For elections, PPP and Dalits don’t go together

Despite comprising 92 percent of the total Hindu population in Pakistan, the Hindus’ scheduled caste (referred to as Dalits or “Untouchables”) is again expected to be ignored by the leadership of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for the upcoming senate elections, as it did in the national and provincial assembly elections previously.
A tough competition has already started among the candidates of religious minorities for the first senate election following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, according to which four senate seats – one from each province – has been reserved for minorities.
Due to the majority it enjoys in the Sindh Assembly, the PPP is expected to win most of the senate seats, including the minority seat, in the upcoming elections and most minorities’ candidates in Sindh are approaching the PPP to get nominations for the elections.
Insiders in the PPP told Pakistan Today that the party has received 12 applications from candidates for nomination to the senate on minority seats from Sindh
The candidates include Surendar Valasai, who has served in the media teams of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari for over 12 years; Hari Ram Kishori Lal, considered a close friend of Zardari; Engineer Gianchand Meghwar, who contested in general election on PPP ticket against former Sindh chief minister Arbab Rahim; Hameer Singh Sodha, son of late Hindu leader Rana Chandar Singh; MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, president of PPP Tharparkar district and also the PPP Sindh minority wing; Sindh Forests Minister Dayaram Essrani; Engineer Pesumal Ukrani and Engineer Jai Parkash, both cousins of Sindh Minority Affairs Minister Dr Mohan Lal Kohistani; Dr Jaipal Chabbria; Amarnath Advocate; and Meher Chand.
According to official records, of the total 30 reserved seats for minorities in the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, 29 of the assembly members currently are either Christians or upper caste Hindus.
The PPP had given a senate seat to one lower caste Hindu candidate, Dr Khatoo Mal Jeevan, but later on when the party leadership decided to bring now Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Dr Asim Hussain in the senate, Jeevan was asked to resign from his position and given a reserved minority seat in the National Assembly.
In the Sindh cabinet, all three Hindu ministers, including Dr Daya Ram Essrani, Mukesh Chawla and Dr Mohan Lal Kohistani, and two other MPAs are from the upper castes of Hindus.
For the senate elections to be held on March 2, all four provincial assemblies will become the electoral colleges for electing one minority senator.
Judging by the strength of political parties in provincial assemblies, the PPP may win two senate seats for minorities – one each from Sindh and Balochistan – while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is likely to fetch the Punjab’s minority seat with the seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa possibly going to the Awami National Party.
A recent research study reveals that there are several forms and manifestations of “untouchability” for the Hindu Dalits living in Pakistan, including caste discrimination and human inequality, which are still faced by the scheduled castes, mainly in Sindh and southern Punjab.
The study states that 74 percent Dalit population – over two million – is illiterate with 68 percent of them having no access to health, drinking water or other amenities, while 79 percent of them face different discrimination. Almost 90 percent of Dalits are reportedly served food and tea in separate crockery at hotels and restaurants; 77 percent of them are denied barber services; 59 percent are discriminated over wage payments; 83 percent have no land holding; and 95 percent do not benefit from local government system.
In such conditions, these poor and most vulnerable communities need representation in prestigious institutions like the senate, but it seems that once again, the PPP leadership will ignore the lower caste Hindus and the upper caste Hindus, which comprise only 8 percent of the total Hindu population, who will get the party tickets for the upcoming elections.
Some reports suggest that most of the upper caste Hindus bribe the leadership of political parties to get elected for the assembly and even senate seats.