Ram Singh Sodho

Family and personal life

Sodho was born in Aeokhi, Diplo, Tharparkar District, but later moved to Dileep Nagar in the district capital Mithi. He is a lawyer by profession. His father Ran Singh Sodho was influential in his home community. He is a maternal cousin of former Chief Minister of Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim, whose mother converted to Islam after marriage, and also a relative of Rana Chandra Singh.

Sodho's sons preceded him in moving to India. One son Dileep Singh moved there around 2001, but died in Bhuj during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. His other son Guman Singh Sodho was an elected member of the Tharparkar district council and a construction contractor; in 2005, Pakistan Peoples Party member and Sindh MPA Nisar Ahmed Khuhro levelled corruption accusations against him, claiming that Guman had used his connections to Arbab Ghulam Rahim to amass millions of rupees. In 2007, Guman moved to India as well, without formally resigning from the district council. The Hindustan Times reports that Sodho also may have other relatives in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Career

Sodho was first elected to the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in 1985. He also served as deputy mayor of Tharparkar District from 2001–2005. In 2008, when the PML gained a ninth seat in the Sindh Assembly, it was allocated to a non-Muslim, and as such to Sodho as he was at the top of the candidate priority list. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Public Health Engineering and the Standing Committee on Minority Affairs, and the chairman of the Standing Committee on Youth Affairs & Sports.

Resignation

Conflicting reports surround Sodho's resignation; it may have been sparked by threats on his life, or his ongoing health troubles. It was reported as early as November 2010 that both Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Sodho had not attended legislative sessions for a long time, and were said by their fellow PML-Q MPA to be out of the country and to have been granted leave by the assembly. Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro was reported by Dawn to have received Sodho's handwritten resignation letter on 26 January, following a phone call the previous day. The Election Commission of Pakistan filled Sodho's seat with new appointee Chettan Mal Arwani, the next non-Muslim candidate on the PML-Q list. Sodho stated that he was stepping down for health reasons; colleague Abdul Razzaque Rahmo stated that spinal cord problems had left him with mobility issues. In contrast, Sodho's cousin Paret Lal stated that Sodho had received threats on his life, and Pitambar Sewani of the PPP claims that Sodho had been seeking political asylum in India for several years.