Krishna Kumari Kohli alias Kishu Bhayi - the first-ever senator from Hindu Dalit community - on Friday chaired the Senate session on the occasion of International Women's Day. Soon after the Question Hour, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani announced that Krishna Kumari, who is one of the members of the presiding officers, will chair the remaining session in connection with International Women's Day.
Krishna, 40, was elected as senator in March 2018 after spending many years for working for the rights of bonded labourers in Muslim-majority Pakistan. She is the first Thari Hindu woman to be elected to Senate of Pakistan on Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket.
She belongs to the Kohli community from the remote village of Dhana Gam in Nagarparkar area of Sindh province where a sizeable number of Hindus live. "I consider myself very fortunate today to be sitting on this seat. Thank you people of Pakistan, thank you Senate, today, I'm proud to be a Pakistani, and only a Pakistani," she said before starting the session without mentioning her religion.
Born to a poor peasant Jugno Kolhi in February 1979, Krishna and her family members spent nearly three years in a private jail owned by the landlord of Kunri of Umerkot district.
She was a grade-3 student at the time when was held captive. She was married to Lalchand at the age of 16, when she was studying in 9th grade. She pursued her studies and in 2013 she did her masters in sociology from the Sindh University. She had joined PPP as a social activist along with her brother, who was later elected as Chairman of Union Council Berano.
Krishna's election to the Senate is a major milestone for women and minority rights in Pakistan. The female senators congratulated Kumari and lauded the decision taken by Chairman Sanjrani to nominate a woman belonging to minority Hindu community to preside over the Senate session on the occasion of International Women's Day. After exhausting the agenda, Kumari read out the prorogation order and prorogued the House for an indefinite period of time.
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