The Punjab Assembly is all set to welcome the first Hindu member of provincial assembly (MPA) after more than three years, as Youdester Chohan will take oath during the next session of the House.
In the House of 371, there was earlier no representation of the Hindu community despite the fact that more than half a million Hindus lived in the province. The minority community would feel strengthened now with representation in the legislature of the country’s largest province. Chohan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who hails from Rahim Yar Khan District, would become the first Hindu MPA of the current assembly.
According to official details, the seat fell vacant after PTI’s MPA on reserved seat, Peter Gill passed away. Gill would now be replaced by Chohan, whose name was already with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as submitted by his party at the time of the last general elections.
“I belong to Rahim Yar Khan where a large population of Hindu community has lived for decades and it will be my utmost priority to get funds for the renovation of temples soon after taking the oath as MPA,” Chohan said while talking to MinuteMirror.
He further said that he would also work for the construction of boundary walls of graveyards for the Hindu community. “I’ll raise my voice for my community in the largest House of the country,” he said. “The 2% quota allocated for minorities in the universities is not implemented in letter and spirit and it is also a great concern of our community. I’ll raise the quota issue too for our medical students,” said Chohan, whose father, Surta Ram, also served as MPA twice.
Talking about the tragedy of Bhong Temple, he said that it was really unfortunate but the PTI government had renovated it completely and he would soon organize a huge mela there. It is pertinent to mention here that since partition, several Hindus have represented their community in the Punjab Assembly, like Seth Bakhsha Ram, Seth Surta Ram, Lala Mehr Lal, Dongar Das, Seth Bharta Ram, and Kanji Ram. The last of these, Kanji Ram, was an MPA from 2013 to 2018 on a Pakistan Muslime League Nawaz (PML-N) ticket.
“There was no one from the Hindu community to speak for us in the House in the aftermath of Bhong Temple tragedy. I am quite happy that our voice will now be raised in Punjab Assembly,” said Kanji Ram, while talking to MinuteMirror. He said that the Hindu community had more than 3.5 lakh registered voters but it always had less representation in the assemblies. The political parties should give priority to the Hindu community on the reserved seats keeping in view their population in the province, he said.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Minorities Affairs and Human Rights Mahinder Pall Singh said that the PTI had awarded tickets to all the minorities including Sikh, Christians and Hindus in 2018. “We got four reserved seats according to our proportion in 2018 and three hailed from Christian community while I was from the Sikh community,” Singh told MinuteMirror. Now, after the death of an MPA, a Hindu has gotten an opportunity to play his role in the assembly, he said.
“Yes, Chohan’s entry will be very good addition because all minorities are equal in Pakistan. We were already working for the Hindu community but now their voice will be raised in a more efficient way,” said Singh, who was the first Sikh MPA of PTI and second to become Punjab’s lawmaker from his community.
