The ruling PPP has finalised the names of candidates of religious minorities for the upcoming Senate elections and has selected two Upper Caste billionaire Hindus – Seth Hari Ram Kishwari Lal and Seth Pahlaj Mal, sources told Pakistan Today on Friday. The sources said the Hindus names would be announced on Saturday. Lal is supposedly a very close friend of President Asif Zardari while Mal has paid large amounts of money to the party in the name of party fund, the sources added. With their selection, the total number of the Upper Caste billionaire Hindus, which are only eight percent of the total Hindu population in the country, will rise to 19 in the National and provincial assemblies.
The rest of the 92 percent of the total Hindu population in Pakistan, Dalits or the Untouchables, would not get a single seat in the Senate. It is interesting to note that the 5 percent Upper Caste Hindus have currently grabbed 17 seats in the national and provincial assemblies while Christians have been given 15 seats and only one seat has been given to the scheduled castes which make up 42 percent of the total minority population. It is ironic to note that two members belonging to the scheduled castes were among those PPP workers who embraced martyrdom during the reception of Benazir Bhutto in Karachi. “It is an injustice and we are planning to protest against such attitude,” said Dharmshi Kolhi of Pakistan Hindu Sabha.