THE Sindh Solidarity Conference, recently convened by the Sindh National Front, was a unique political gathering as it was attended by the representatives of almost all the traditional landed families of the province. They included the Bhuttos, Jatois, Mehars, Syeds, Pirzadas, Arbabs and Khuhros. On the other hand, absence of any prominent leader of the parties representing Sindh’s middle class, such as Rasool Bux Palijo, Qadir Magsi or Bashir Qureshi, was noted by political analysts.

There is a general feeling in the country that the rural areas of Sindh are hinterlands ruled by mighty landlords and the common people of these areas are bound to follow their dictates. This concept was shaken to some extent in the elections of 1970 when the candidates of the Pakistan Peoples Party, under the popular slogan of Roti, kapra aur makan, surprised political observers by defeating several feudal lords in the province.

However, the PPP did not consolidate this gain which expressed sentiments of the sections of the population dissatisfied with the state of affairs around them. Nothing was done to establish an economic and social base to guarantee the continuity of this process. No concrete step was taken to provide material basis to the new emerging forces. Agricultural reforms mostly remained confined to paper whereas no industrial and commercial base was established in Sindh.

Instead the PPP, even under Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, after sometime thought it proper to rely on the traditional power brokers and not to choose the thorny path of empowering the people. This policy of the party was repeated in 1988 when Benazir Bhutto declared in no ambiguous terms that she needed the winning horses, which may take her to seat of power, and not the committed party workers who offered sacrifices for the party in the difficult times.

In addition to this, the smaller parties confined to Sindh and representing its middle and working classes, which included both socialist and nationalist organizations, also changed their strategy with the passage of time. Previously class question was the integral part of the agenda of these organizations. Comrade Haider Bukhsh Jatoi and R.B. Palijo played an important role in merging the nationalist sentiments and socialist aspirations. By publishing several books and pamphlets on socialism, nationalism and the revolution, they tried to prove that both the ideologies were inseparable and those dividing the two were not true socialists or nationalists. Even the tension on class question was apparent in the nationalist organization of G.M. Syed, the Jeay Sindh Tehrik, which always tried to carry in its fold the traditional ruling families, irrespective of their past and present activities. Opposing this, some JST leaders opted to quit the organization and form their own splinter groups.

The changes in the global situation after the demise of the Soviet Union and the rise of nationalist sentiments in the former Soviet republics, combined with the maintenance of old economic and social structure in Sindh, robbed the nationalist and socialist parties of their content of social reforms. The tone of the both the groups changed in favour of the interests the landed class. Now the parties and their leaders are the same and poverty and disparity in the province have also increased manifold but one finds no more the mention of socialism or class question in the political rhetoric. This is apparent even in the case of the Sindh Hari Committee. It is acting like the political parties and ignoring its primary responsibility of struggling for the rights of the oppressed peasants as it did in the past. Thus it is shifting its focus to the national rights, paying little attention to the plight of the haris. The peasant problems are no more on the agenda of the political parties and have been shifted to the confines of some NGOs, the activities of which are limited to the issue of bonded labour.

Political parties are required to represent particular social forces in a society. Whenever, they abandon this function, they lose mass appeal and consequently their existence is endangered.

The political parties meant to represent the interests of the middle and lower classes of Sindh are facing the same situation. They have now ceased to differentiate between the interests of the emerging middle class/oppressed sections of society and those of the landed class and have given their reins in the hands of the latter. Class question has not only been subordinated to national question but it has also been laughed off. Thus the landlord is enjoying moral support of the representatives of its class enemies in maintaining its stranglehold.

This has strengthened the landlord’s position and he is acting and bargaining as the sole representative of the Sindh and Sindhi people. The Sindhi landlord not only not fails to recognize the representative position of Sindhi middle class parties and their leaders but even hates to consult them on burning issues, and when he has to do so, he refuses to consider the interests of the middle and working class.

The Sindh Solidarity Conference was also an embodiment of this situation. When a veteran labour leader tried to talk about the role of class question in Sindh’s politics, he was rebuffed and told that in the province no class question existed. This trend, on the one hand, will turn the Sindhi nationalist parties, representing the middle class, subordinate to the politics of the local ruling elite and on the other, will reduce the popular appeal enjoyed by the PPP. On the whole, the exclusion of the demands and the interests of the middle and lower class from the power equation will push the politics of the province several decades back.