HYDERABAD: Noted social worker and human rights award recipient Veeru Kolhi has announced that she would contest against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto if by-election was held on NA-204 in Larkana.
Talking to media at the Hyderabad Press Club, she said that politicians, after taking votes from the people, ignore them and collect money through corruption. She alleged that the elected representatives in Larkana had done nothing for the betterment of voters after election.
“Even today people in Larkana were compelled to drink polluted water,” Kohli opined. It is pertinent to mention that Kohli is a bonded labour and human rights activist. She is known for starting a campaign against slavery after twenty years of living in bondage herself. She had previously been a slave in southern Pakistan but escaped her captors. After being forced back into bondage and suffering beatings she stood up to the authorities and gained her freedom, with help from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in Hyderabad.
Her experiences inspired her to campaign for freedom for others. This meant she, as a Saraiki speaker, had to learn Urdu to enable her to communicate with a wide range of people. In 2009, she was given the Frederick Douglass Freedom Award by the Free the Slaves organisation.
