Bonded labour activist dies

KARACHI:

Veeru Kohli, a courageous member of the Kohli community, passed away on Tuesday.

Kohli, resident of a village near Tando Mohammad Khan, was laid to rest in her ancestral village in Jhudo, district Umerkot.

Kohli was renowned for her strong advocacy against bonded labour and spent her entire life fighting against slavery. Her efforts led to the liberation of countless workers. According to the records of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Kohli was 64-year-old.

She had been married off to a family bound by servitude to their landlord at the age of 16. In 1998, Kohli was freed from a private jail and subsequently became associated with various organisations. Owing to her tireless efforts, she received numerous national and international awards, including the Frederick Douglass Freedom Award in 2009.

In 2013, she participated in the general elections and contested against PPP's senior leader, Sharjeel Inam Memon.

Ghufraza Arain, a senior member of HRCP who witnessed Kohli's entire journey, commented, Arain went on to say: "She was very poor and innocent when I first met her in 1999. She regularly visited our office in Hyderabad and had strong connections with everyone."

Arain mentioned that Kohli not only dared to free herself from a landlord's private jail but also fought to secure the release of other family and community members.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2023.