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Journalism of Courage
As Pakistan gears up for the all-important general elections early next year, a Hindu doctor from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has grabbed headlines after she filed nomination papers to contest in the National Assembly polls, as per local media.
Dr Saveera Parkash, a medical graduate based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Buner district, hopes to contest from the general seat of PK-25 on a ticket from Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which was a part of the ruling coalition until recently, reported Pakistani daily Dawn. Saveera is the general secretary of PPP’s women’s wing in Buner and her father Dr Oam Parkash has been a member of PPP for over three decades, said the report.
Saveera reportedly completed her MBBS degree from the Abbottabad International Medical College, a private college in the Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2022. She told Dawn that her medical background attests that serving humanity is in her blood.
Highlighting women’s empowerment in the development sector as one of the key issues that she is running on, the medic said that she experienced issues related to poor management at government hospitals which prompted her to run for office.
Pakistan will go to polls on February 8, 2024, during which candidates will contest for the 266 general seats of the National Assembly. As per a report by the news agency PTI, at least 28,626 candidates have filed their nominations for the elections as of Monday. Both women and non-Muslims can also contest on all 266 general seats apart from participating on the 60 and 10 seats reserved for them respectively.
It added that 3,139 women (over 11 per cent) of the total 28,626 candidates have filed nomination papers for the general elections this time, as per details shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). This is far more than the number of women who submitted nominations for the 2018 and 2013 general elections. During the 2018 general elections, 1,687 women had filed nomination papers, a number marginally higher than the 1,171 women who had filed nomination papers in the 2013 elections.
The ECP officials are scrutinising the documents and also accepting objections against the nominations. The process will continue till Dec 30.
(With inputs from the Press Trust of India)
