HYDERABAD: Sardar Moh­­ammad Bux Mahar’s win in by-poll for NA-205 on July 23 is believed to have eroded confidence of his cousin and an elder of Gho­tki’s Mahar community, Sar­dar Ali Gohar Khan Mahar, who was considered invincible in local politics for various reasons.

The young chieftain Moh­a­m­mad Bux has successfully made inroads in his cousins’ stronghold and won the seat on a ticket of Pakis­tan Peoples Party by over 18,000 votes with help from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl.

Local observers believe that Mohammad Bux would now try to consolidate his voter base in Ghotki while PPP would get Ali Nawaz alias Raja Mahar disqua­lified for supporting Ali Ahmed Mahar despite being PPP member of Sindh Assembly from Ghotki.

Ali Gohar Mahar has been ruling the roost in Ghotki along with his late brother, Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar and Ali Nawaz Khan Mahar as his cousin Mohammad Bux was too young to control political affairs of his family after the death of his father Sardar Ghulam Mohammad Mahar in mid-90s.

For some, since his disqualification in general election, Sardar Mohammad Bux had considered himself vulnerable in local politics as his cousins sought to neutralise him but now he has made his presence felt and refused to be taken for granted.

“It is not an awami change in Ghotki but it indeed has changed scenario of local politics and this is interesting,” obser­ved political analyst Jami Chandio.

Having said that, Mr Chan­dio said he did not have high hopes in Moham­mad Bux given his own tribal mindset.

“To me he will be no different from his cousins but he has at least tried to mingle with local communities during poll campaign,” he claimed.

Sardar Mohammad Bux opted for public posturing in his election campaign and tried to be accessible to general public.

A friend of late Ali Moh­am­mad Khan Mahar belie­ves that Mohammad Bux would now try to broaden his social and political circle and would be interested in using his influence to win the seat (PS-21) to be vaca­ted by his cousin Ali Nawaz Khan Mahar alias Raja Mahar under defection clause of elections laws for which has already been issued a notice.

Ali Gohar has to face another problem as his son Haji Khan Mahar had also filed papers as independent candidate in by-poll. He was elected as chairman of PPP-backed district council Ghotki.

“Besides MPA Ali Nawaz Mahar, the party has issued show-cause notice to Haji Khan Mahar as he violated party discipline by working against the PPP candidate. Local government laws are stricter for dealing with such defection,” said Sindh Local Bodies Minister Saeed Ghani.

Haji Khan Mahar had also filed nomination papers against PPP candidate.

Mahars have been united and have always remained close to power corridors.

They kept changing political parties to protect their inter­ests and one such choice had enabled late Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar to become chief minister of Sindh during Pervez Musha­rraf regime.

It is for the first time that this split is seen in the family and that is why Jami Chandio opines this scheme of things is bound to dent political stakes of Ali Gohar Khan Mahar who has been considered invincible for quite long.

“It is for the first time that Mahars’ vote has gone to a political party,” he asser­ted.

And, he said, if he had not been contesting on PPP’s ticket the situation would have certainly been different.

“Being candidate of a ruling party in any province does matter,” he quipped.

Sardar Mohammad Bux has been politically depen­dent on his cousins until he started asserting himself. In this electoral race he luckily survived litigation — filed by manager of Ali Gohar Mahar — that sought his disqualification on the ground of concealment of assets like last year’s general election.

Mohammad Bux expres­sed his take on the differences with his cousins in the wake of recent electoral contro­versy in unam­biguous terms.

“When you [Ali Gohar] started calling yourself sar­dar people started addressing me as chief sardar,” he observed in his election cam­paign while alluding to Grand Democratic Alliance leader Ali Gohar Khan.

With this major rift in the political dynasty, future political scene in Ghotki district is going to be more exciting.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2019