Sassui Palijo ( Sindhi: سسئي پليجو) is a politician and a columnist from

Thatta Thatta ( sd, ٺٽو; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh. Thatta was the medieval capital of Sindh, and served as the seat of power for three successive dynasties. Thatta's historic significance has yielded several monuments in and ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Palijo is currently affiliated to

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

, served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on women's reserved seat from Sindh from 2015 to 2021. She is also a two-time Member of the

Sindh Provincial Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Sindh ( ur, ) is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of ...

from PS-85 (Thatta-II).

Early life and education

She was born on 10 January 1976 into a Sindhi Muslim family, in

Jungshahi Jungshahi (also spelled as ''Jang Shahi'') is a town of Thatta District in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It lies to the east of Karachi at 24°51'26N 67°46'21E and is a Union Council of Thatta tehsil. In 1949 Major General Muhammed Iftikhar K ...

. She is a double graduate, with an undergraduate degree in law from London and an MA in Political Science from

University of Sindh The University of Sindh ( ur, ; sd, سنڌ يونيورسٽي; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certifi ...

(1989).

Political career

She was first elected Member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh from

Mirpur Sakro Mirpur Sakro ( sd, ميرپورساڪرو,) is a village located 33 km away from Thatta. while it is 85 km away from Karachi. Mirpur Sakro is at an altitude of 35 meters. It is a small area having a population of around 17,500 settled ...

area of constituency PS-85 (Thatta-II) in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and later in 2008, when she was the only directly-elected female assembly member in Sindh out of 168 assembly members. She served as the Minister for Culture in the Sindh cabinet led by chief minister

Syed Qaim Ali Shah Syed Qaim Ali Shah Jillani ( sd, سيد قائم علي شاه جيلاني , ur, ) is a Pakistani politician who served as the elected Chief Minister of Sindh for three terms. His last two terms combined, a total of eight years, makes him t ...

from 2008 to 2013. Her efforts led to the shifting of the archaeology department from Islamabad to Sindh. Around 300 books on Sindh's culture, history, and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

were published during her tenure. She lost her seat in the 2013 Pakistani general election by a margin of only 409 votes, after which she became a senator on a reserved seat from Sindh from 2015 to 2021. Palijo was elected Chairperson of Senate Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs in 2018.

Activism

Palijo has been an active campaigner for human rights and gender equality. During

General Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of th ...

's rule, she was arrested many times in Islamabad, Thatta, Karachi, Lahore, and Thar for protesting against the military regime. In 2009, she strongly protested Musharraf's handing over of Hindu Gymkhana to the

National Academy of Performing Arts The National Academy of Performing Arts ( ur, ; abbreviated as NAPA) is a performing arts school located at Hindu Gymkhana in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. NAPA was established in 2005 as an institution to conserve and teach performing arts and ...

, saying that Hindu Gymkhana will be reserved for activities of the Hindu community.

Personal life

Palijo's father, Ghulam Qadir Palijo, has been a Member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly from Thatta twice – in 1993 and 1997 – and is a former chairman of Thatta district council. Her mother, Akhtar Baloch, was the first Pakistan woman politician to be arrested during

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

's military rule. Her grandmother, Zarina Baloch, was a writer, actress, folk singer, teacher, and political activist. Her uncle,

Rasul Bux Palejo Rasul Bux Palejo (also spelled Rasool Bux Palijo) (, ur, ; 21 February 1930 – 7 June 2018) was a Pakistani leftist, Marxist leader from Sindh, scholar and writer. He was a human-rights lawyer and the leader and founder of Awami Tahre ...

, was the founder of

Awami Tahreek Awami Tahreek or Qomi Awami Tehreek, formerly Sindhi Awami Tahreek ( en, Sindhi People's Movement), is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist political party based in the Pakistani province of Sindh, and headquartered in Hyderabad. Formation Awami T ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palijo, Sassui Living people 1976 births Pakistani senators (14th Parliament) Sindhi people People from Thatta District 21st-century Pakistani women politicians