Cast(e) aside no more: Hindu representative gets elected for the seventh time

Dr Jeewan, who belongs to the Menghwar caste, has been with the PPP since 1980s.

KARACHI: “My name is Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan. I belong to the scheduled caste Menghwar, who are considered ‘untouchable’ in our community, and my father is a farmer. Yet, I have been elected as a public representative seven times.”

Dr Jeewan has been elected four times as a member of the National Assembly, once as a senator and twice as a member of the Sindh Assembly, making him the only Hindu representative to serve seven political terms. A loyalist of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the MPA believes that his performance, commitment and sacrifices have made him earn the party’s respect.



The 57-year-old MPA joined the PPP’s student wing in the 1980s but his political journey has been a turbulent one, with his enforced disappearance in 1991 making headlines in newspapers.

At that time, he was serving as an MNA and the late Jam Sadiq was the chief minister. “From the police station in Mirpurkhas to the chief minister house, I was being forced to give up my affiliation with the PPP and join Jam Sadiq’s camp but I opted for torture over switching my allegiance,” said Dr Jeewan.

“The police kept me in more than a dozen places. After Benazir Bhutto filed a petition in the Supreme Court and the judges ordered raids at different places, I was moved to a place in the jungle where one of the landlords had built a hunting place for wild boars,” Dr Jeewan told The Express Tribune. “I was blindfolded every time I was moved from one police station to the other, including in Badin, Thatta and Mirpurkhas.”

After two months of being abducted, he said that he was taken to the Chief Minister House where his family members were also present. “My brothers started pleading me to join Jam Sadiq’s party but at that moment, I was barely conscious due to physical and mental torture. Later, they released me when I did not respond and started the propaganda that I had left PPP and joined them.”

After being released, Dr Jeewan under the supervision of Benazir started a campaign against the people who held him captive and approached national and international human rights organisations about his enforced disappearance. “The government at that time was harassing me because more than 50 per cent of the scheduled castes, including Menghwar, Kohli and Bhel, were living in Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Mithi of Tharparkar,” he said. “These Hindus were voters of the PPP and the government was trying to use me against PPP so that I could convince the communities of the scheduled caste not to vote for the party.”

A jiyala through and through 

During the tenure of Former President General Pervez Musharraf, more than a dozen cases were registered against him. He went into hiding for about 11 years and was declared an offender.   “Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim was aware that I was among the few people in Tharparkar who could influence the Hindu community, especially the scheduled castes. They tried to put pressure on me to join their camp but when they failed, they started harassing me and my family,” said the MPA. “My party, however, had asked me to keep a low profile. Benazir used to call me from London and Dubai and asked party leaders to provide me a safe place to live in Karachi.”

Winning streak: Snapshot of a political journey

Hailing from a lower middle class family, Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan was born in Janhero village of Umerkot. He graduated from the Dow Medical College, now known as the Dow University of Health Sciences.

He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party’s student wing, Sindh Peoples Student Federation, in 1980s and later joined parliamentary politics in 1988 when Benazir Bhutto allotted him a minority ticket in the Sindh Assembly. He was also given ticket for the National Assembly in 1990, 1993 and 1997.

Soon after PPP came in power in 2008, the party appointed Dr Jeewan as advisor to the CM, giving him the portfolio of the mineral and mines department. He was made chairperson of the Sindh Coal Authority before the party decided to appoint him as a senator from Sindh in 2009. When PPP’s MNA Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated in Islamabad, Dr Jeewan was elected to replace his seat.

In 2013, the party has once again nominated Dr Jeewan on the reserved seats for minorities in the Sindh Assembly. “In my career, I have never demanded any post and neither have I approached the party’s leadership for a ticket,” said the seven-time elected representative. “I have always been touched by my party’s loyalty towards me.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2013.