When Veero Kolhi (centre) made the asset declaration required of candidates for Pakistan's May elections, her modest list included the following items: two beds, five mattresses, cooking pots and a bank account with life savings of 2,800 rupees ($28). Kolhi cuts an unusual figure on the campaign trail, and not just because of her lack of personal wealth - she is the first contestant to have escaped the thrall of a feudal-style landowner who forced workers to toil in conditions akin to modern-day slavery.