A Hindu doctor from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is set to contest in Pakistan's general elections, which are going to be conducted on February 8, 2024, to elect the members of the 16th National Assembly.

Dr. Saveera Parkash, a medical graduate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Buner district, is the first Hindu doctor to contest in the Pakistan general election. She submitted her nomination papers for the general seat of PK-25 on December 23.

Dr. Saveera completed her graduation from Abbottabad International Medical College in 2022. She wished to compete in the Central Superior Services (CSS). The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chose her as its candidate for Buner’s PK-25 seat. She is currently working as a general secretary of PPP’s women's wing in Buner. She delighted in how her Muslim constituency, the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the Islamic Republic welcomed someone from the minority community as Buner Ki Beti (Daughter of Buner).

The doctor said that her innate desire to serve humanity is deeply rooted in her medical background. Her father, Dr. Om Parkash has also been an active member of the Pakistan People’s Party since 1995. She remembers her father's loyalty to the PPP, and how her father painfully cried when former PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. She wanted to follow in her father's footsteps to serve in the areas of the poor. Her dream to become an elected legislator emanated from having encountered poor management and helplessness in government hospitals as a doctor.

This Pakistani Hindu is the first woman candidate from the minority community to contest in the general elections. She is also a polyglot and knows six languages. She wishes to upgrade Burner’s Hospitals for safer and affordable deliveries, build girls’ colleges, create income support for women, and provide clean drinking water to the people. She desires to be a bridge between India and Pakistan.

The doctor also said that there is a space in Pakistani politics for minorities and women, which is why the PPP fielded her from a general seat. The common Muslims run her election campaign and elders in the mosques and children in the madrassas pray for her success.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)