HYDERABAD: Back in 2012, when the Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi-led Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) demonstrated its strength in a public meeting against the dual local government system — introduced by Pakistan Peoples Party government — many had anticipated that it would make things difficult for the PPP in the 2013 elections. It was believed then that the PPP-MQM coalition’s record of bad governance would swing momentum in the PML-F’s favour. Four years down the road, however, the tables have been turned and the PML-F, it seems, prefers to look the other way.

Two of the party’s MPAs, Imtiaz Sheikh and Jam Madad Ali, have recently defected to the PPP, not to mention Mohammad Ali Shah Jamote, grandson of late Shah Mardan Shah’s close friend, Mohammad Ali Shah Jamote senior, who has also jumped onto the PPP bandwagon. Credible sources in the PPP claim that it’s not going to end here and that, “the PML-F will be bracing to absorb more shocks” in store for it.

If things go according to plan, those next in line to defect could be MPA Mehtab Akbar Rashdi and Ghaus Bux Mahar or his son Shaharyar Mahar, an MPA from upper Sindh says. “In fact the elder Mahar wants two seats, his national and his son’s provincial constituencies of Shikarpur, but the PPP is willing to settle for one,” he says. “Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar will deal with the Mahars,” he remarks, adding that “the most surprising development yet could be the parting of ways by PML-F’s MNA Kazim Ali Shah from Khairpur who recently met PPP leaders in Dubai.”

Since the death of Shah Mardan Shah alias Pir Pagara in 2012, his elder son and successor Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi appears to not want to shoulder the political stake of his father’s party. The PML-F was founded following an apex court judgment in a petition filed during the Zia regime in which political activity was banned. According to PML-F’s sitting central chief organiser Kashif Nizamani, there were several PML factions at the time, but the apex court had declared the Pir Pagara-led faction “functional”. The party, which had once managed to install its nazims in six districts in the local government system introduced during the Musharraf era, is now unable to form even a district council in its stronghold, Sanghar.

Its popularity in Sanghar was dented by the PPP which won two of the three national assembly seats from the district in the 2013 general elections. With the recent defection of MPA Jam Madad, of Sanghar, to the PPP, the number of PML-F’s lawmakers has further decreased.

Pir Sibghatullah Shah had piloted the much-trumpeted anti-PPP 10-party alliance against the PPP’s controversial dual local government system, yet his party couldn’t make its presence felt when it mattered — the 2013 general election. Asked about the decline in popularity, an MPA from upper Sindh says one of the reasons could be that the Pir’s nationalist leanings ahead of the 2013 polls didn’t sit well with the ‘right’ quarters. The other is that Asif Zardari had managed to assert his position that while the PML-F could have a token presence in the province, ‘real’ politics would belong to the PPP.

A disgruntled PML-F leader holds the view that Pir Pagara appears complacent with the way things are regardless of the fact that inaction would pave the way for a hassle-free victory for the PPP in the next general elections. This can be gauged from the fact that the party’s central and provincial bodies have not held meetings for quite some time. “The Pir wants Hurs [devotees] not party workers,” the leader says. The Pir — who lacks the political clout his father wielded — appears somewhat of a recluse. This is evident from the fact that the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) he spearheads doesn’t trouble the PPP in the slightest.

The alliance, which started out with a bang, has perhaps ended with a whimper. The PML-F’s office in Karachi, set up by Imtiaz Sheikh, is now closed. According to a source, Pir Pagara had told Mr Sheikh that he could ‘defect’ to the PPP and not worry about the ‘defection clause’ being invoked. A PPP MPA confides that the “same offer is open for Ghaus Mahar”. And yet, says the MPA, no plans or attempts have been made to prevent colleagues from defecting.

It is well known that PML-F Sindh president Sadruddin Shah alias Younus Saeen and Pir Pagara do not have a sound relationship. Mr Shah is aware that he will never “succeed” to the throne being eyed by the Pir’s son Rashid Shah. Within the PML-F, party workers do not appear happy with the way Mr Shah has been handling the party’s political affairs.

Sindh Tarraqi-Passand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi says that Pir Pagara had once emerged as an alternative force against the PPP in the backdrop of the dual LG system. Magsi says that Shah Mardan Shah had actually groomed Sadruddin Shah as his political successor but the Hur Jamaat had backed Sibghatullah Shah. The latest rumour making rounds is that Sadruddin Shah’s daughter’s father-in-law is out to bring him into the ‘PPP fold’.

“This is a political process. Many leaders join and leave the party. We have the case of PPP, whose numerical strength in parliament was reduced to 17 in the 1997 elections when Nawaz Sharif routed the PPP with his ‘massive’ mandate. The PML-F received 2.4 million votes in the last polls. We aren’t oblivious of conditions and are going to strive for lost ground,” the PML-F central chief organiser says, adding that Sindh still sees an alternative to the PPP in the PML-F.

Published in Dawn December 24th, 2016