Hindu physician in Pakistan is moved by Muslim backing, according to surveys

BATHINDA: Regardless of the outcome of the election on February 8, Pakistan’s first Hindu woman to run for the national assembly, Dr. Saveera Parkash, will be happy that someone from the minority community was accepted as ‘Buner ki beti’ (daughter of Buner) by her Muslim constituency, restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, and the Islamic republic.

After completing her studies at Abbottabad International Medical College in 2022, Dr. Saveera’s only goal was to apply for Central Superior Services (CSS). But this Hindu physician was chosen by the Pakistan People’s Party to be their candidate for Buner’s PK-25 seat. In addition to developing girls’ colleges, offering economic assistance for women, renovating Buner’s hospitals for safer and more inexpensive births, and giving people clean drinking water, the polyglot who speaks six languages hopes to be a bridge between India and Pakistan.
It will be difficult for anybody to change a traditional culture that requires women to wear the burqa or Islamic veil, especially because she is not Muslim. “There’s space in Pakistani politics for minorities and women, which is why the PPP fielded me from a general seat,” she replied when asked to outline the difficulties.
She is prayed for by the elderly in the mosques and the youngsters in the madrassas, and her election campaign is managed by ordinary Muslims. Since 1995, her father, Dr. Om Parkash, has been involved with the PPP. She remembers how deeply her father wept after the assassination of Pakistan’s former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, in December 2007, as proof of his dedication to the PPP.