Many factions of the Muslim League plan a meeting by the end this month wherein Pir Pagara will host a dinner for leaders. At present, there are more than six factions of the Muslim League, of which two are in governments in federal and provincial levels. One such faction is headed by Pir Pagara and the other by Manzoor Wattoo. PML-Q members of the Balochistan Assembly are part of the provincial coalition. If half a dozen of Muslim League factions were not enough, another Muslim League has sprung up under the wings of former president General Pervez Musharaf, named All Pakistan Muslim League. All these factions claim that they are successors to the All-India Muslim League (AIML) which demanded and won an independent country.

These Muslim Leagues claim to be the lawful offshoots of the AIML which was turned into the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) under the leadership of the Quaid-i-Azam in 1948 with a manifesto that no League office holder will hold any public office. Consequently, Liaqat Ali Khan, the then prime minister of Pakistan in 1947, could not have any office in the organisation. But after the death of the Quaid, prime minister Liaqat became the president of the PML which had no legitimate right to present itself as the successor to the AIML.

The difference between the two is that the AIML founded a country and the PML sacrificed half of the country just to save landlords and their allies in the civil and military establishment. That is another matter that how we should take these Sharifs, Chaudhris, Chatthas, Ayubs, Musharrafs and Pagaras Leagues. It was the government of this league in the Punjab which not only disowned its own manifesto of the pre-independence Punjab Muslim League which had won 100 per cent of seats in the central assembly and 87 per cent in the Punjab Assembly.

The League, however, not only disowned its own manifesto but also as Pakistan Times (Aug 14, 1950) states that any tenant reading it in the public could face eviction from the land.

According to the newspaper, in West Punjab, an act was passed in 1950 under which “a tenant can be ejected if he is guilty of reading out at a public or private meeting the Punjab Muslim League Manifesto of 1944, in which land reforms have been vehemently advocated”.

The Muslim League of pre-partition days was an enemy organisation but Muslim Leagues run by Shahbaz Sharif and Parvaiz Elahi are not successors to the Punjab Muslim League which declared the manifesto of 1944, and of course with the permission of Quaid-i-Azam. If they claim to be successors to the PML, they must own the 1944 manifesto of the Punjab Muslim League.

When do these breakaway factions get united only to perform a negative role? The unification becomes their agenda whenever they see that the government party is losing its popularity.

In 1957-58, when the Republican government had become a handmade of the top generals and bureaucrats, it was the Qayyum Muslim League which became the rallying body of almost all the opposition forces and a 25-mile long protest or welcome procession was arranged from Gujrat to Jhelum under the leadership of Nawabzadas of Gujrat. The local Republican Party was headed by the late Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi. The Qayyum League could not bring about any healthy change rather it paved the way for the first martial law of Ayub Khan.

Ayub Khan raised another Muslim League known as Convention League. Again it was the Muslim League in an alliance which shook the roots of Ayub Khan by fielding Fatima Jinnah a rival candidate for the president slot. Later in 1969, the alliance which also included Awami League from East Pakistan, challenged Ayub’s authority. The Muslim League (Qayyum, Daultana) was also in the alliance and the alliance toppled the government of Ayub Khan only to install another martial law under Yahya Khan. The alliance could not play a positive role and ultimately the country saw the darkest day of its history – the fall of East Pakistan on December 16, 1971.

In the ensuing developments, the Muslim League remained out of power and the young Pakistan People’s Party ruled the country for four to five years. Though the PPP manifesto was anti-feudalism, its leaders’ mind-set was feudal therefore it behaved as a feudal party. In the 1977 elections, a larger alliance which also had a Muslim League headed by Pir Pagara (the Sindhi Pagara against the Sindhi Bhutto), contested the polls but the alliance brought another martial law under which power was shared with Pir Pagara and Zahoor Elahi. Ziaul Haq also raised the Convention Muslim League and in the coming years other factions such as N League, Junejo League and Pagara League also emerged. After the Zia era, the PPP came to power twice but it failed. The Sharif got two-thirds majority in the house in 1997 but he failed to check the army.

The army made its own Muslim League known as Quaid-i-Azam League. Now all these leagues are being coaxed to get closer under the Sindhi leadership to challenge the government presided over by a Sindhi. One wonders what role these Leagues are going to play in the coming days.