THATTA: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member of Sindh Assembly Heer Ismail Soho is going to become the first-ever woman chieftain of any tribe or clan in Sindh, heralding a paradigm shift in the province’s rigid feudal mindset and the male-dominated society.

Astonishingly enough, her installation as the tribal head has been endorsed by a clergy and spiritual leader, Saen Hafiz Ghulam Muhammad Soho Mehmoodi Qadri, who wields considerable influence in the tribe and has also great respect in the religious and political quarters in several southern districts.

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had chosen him as the Nikah registrar for the marriage of his daughter, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari.

The decision to install Heer Soho as the successor of Comrade Ghulam Muhammad Soho was taken at a recent meeting of top Soho elders presided over by the spiritual leader.

Comrade Soho died some time ago in his ancestral town of Mirpur Bathoro in Sujawal district. The elders decided to hold the traditional turban-tying ceremony in the town but did not announce a date.

Sources privy to the meeting said Hafiz Soho would perform the first round of turban-tying and other Soho elders would perform one round each to complete the tribal custom.

A large number of Soho tribesmen and members of the subtribes are expected to attend the ceremony.

Heer Soho is an active political figure. She was first given a reserved seat for women in the Sindh assembly by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 2002.

She contested for the NA-238 Thatta-II seat in 2008 on the same party’s ticket but lost to Ayaz Shah Shirazi. In the 2013 elections, she contested for PS-85 Thatta-II seat again on an MQM ticket but lost to Amir Haider Shah Shirazi.

She left Muttahida in 2018 to join PPP and got a Sindh Assembly seat reserved for women.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2022