MITHI: Arbab Lutfullah’s defection to Pakistan Peoples Party has dealt a serious blow to the Arbab political dynasty which has remained ‘invincible’ for decades in Thar and put the family’s diehard supporters in a real quandary over where to place their loyalty in the changed scenario.

Elders of various communities like Nohrio, Rahimoon, Samejo, Bajeer, Samoon and Dal who have always stood by Arbab family through thick and thin feel ‘confused’ over the junior Arbab’s jumping on PPP bandwagon.

He reportedly made the decision after he grew disillusioned with Arbab elders, Arbab Ataullah, Arbab Zakaullah and Anwer Jabbar of Khetlari, 7-Mile and 8-Mile villages, respectively.

“The junior Arbab who is considered to be real political heir of his father Arbab Ameer Hassan made the decision after he felt neglected by the rest of elders and notables of Arbab community,” said Nandlal Lohano, a senior journalist.

He said that Lutfullah felt the family was losing its grip on the vote bank of minority communities, especially Meghwars, due to growing religiosity of his uncle Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who was political head of Arbab group and a former chief minister of Sindh.

These days, Dr Rahim is reportedly focusing more on his religious activities as he takes part regularly in gatherings of Raiwind-based Tableeghi Jamaat instead of paying attention to his constituency and voters. His long absences from Thar because of Tableeghi Jamaat activities have in fact cost him the defection of his nephew, according to Lohano.

Arbab group lost five seats with the exception of a provincial seat of Diplo in the last general elections while in 2003 and 2008 general elections Arbab group had swept the polls across the district by convincingly winning all six seats, including the four provincial assembly seats and two seats of National Assembly.

PS-64 Nagarparkar fell vacant following sudden death of Dr Rahim’s brother Arbab Abdullah in an accident soon after 2008 elections and dropped into the lap of PPP’s Sharjeel Inam Memon who won it unopposed though he was earlier defeated by late Arbab Abdullah.

All the candidates of Arbab group including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi were trounced during last general elections while only Dr Rahim managed to win his native seat of Diplo after defeating PPP’s Engineer Gayanchand, who is now senator and president of PPP’s Tharparkar chapter.

Sources close to the Arbabs said that Arbab Lutfullah had received guarantees from PPP leadership that Mr Gayanchand would fully support him in case he contested PS-60 Diplo — comprising areas of Kaloi and Diplo talukas — where he had polled 34,796 votes against Dr Rahim’s 53,437 votes.

The Arbabs, who had been in and out of parliament since 1936 earned fame when Arbab Ameer Hassan won elections in 1988 as an independent candidate defeating his rival late Ghulam Mohammad Laat of PPP. The group reached the pinnacle of power when Dr Rahim was made chief minister under Gen Musharraf’s regime in 2004.

The unbeatable anti-PPP group suffered its first serious blow when Dr Ghulam Haider Samijo, present chairman of Tharparkar district council who was twice elected MNA with the support of Arbabs, defected to PPP soon after his defeat by Dost Ali Rahimoon of PPP in 2013 general elections, said Aijaz Ahmed Bajeer, an analyst.

He was of the opinion that Arbab Lutfullah would easily win the Diplo seat even if he had to contest against Dr Rahim himself. “Though Dr Rahim has led the group efficiently over the past 15 years the diehard supporters of Arbabs and Hindu voters will surely switch over to the junior Arbab who is real political heir of his late father Arbab Ameer Hassan,” he said.

Analysts believed that Dr Rahim had always been a favourite of the establishment and if some hidden hands did not come to his rescue this time, it would be difficult for the group to win even a single seat in Thar in the changed scenario.

They said that if the uncle and the nephew contested polls against each other the seat would still remain within the Arbab family, which was fast losing influence due to increasing popularity in the area of Senator Gayanchand who garnered support among Meghwar community and others who traditionally voted against Arbabs.

They claimed that in spite of it all, Tharis would most likely stick to their traditions and prefer elders to the youngsters. Dr Rahim was still a hard nut to crack as he enjoyed support of a majority of Tharis for having carried out unprecedented development work in the area during his tenure as chief minister.

Sources privy to Arbab family disclosed that Dr Rahim had himself fought polls on a PPP ticket in 1993 despite stiff opposition from his elder brother and easily won elections because Arbab Ameer Hassan always avoided opposing him in public.

But this time round it appears the rift in the Arbab family has grown deeper and will surely have its impact on electoral results since both sides claim to have support of majority of notables and elders of the community.

Dr Rahim claims to have unflinching support of three times MNA Arbab Zakaullah, former district nazim Anwer Jabbar, two-times MPA Haji Abdul Razzak Rahimoon, Dilwar Maalkani, chairmen of town committees of Chhachhro and Nagarparkar Haji Qamaruddin Rahimoon and Sardar Ali Khoso.

And the junior Arbab plans to launch his new political career with the support of former Sindh minister and district nazim Arbab Ataullah, Arbab Jalaluddin, the chieftain of Nohrio community, Arbab Pir Bux and a number of influential personalities of Thar.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017