MULTAN, Sept 20: Rajanpur, a backward district of Punjab, has no room for political parties in the presence of deep-rooted tribal and feudal culture.

Mazari, Leghari, Dreshak and Gurchani chiefs of Balochi origin have always held sway on political affairs of the district. For the Oct 10 elections too, the situation is not different as candidates from the chief families are in the run for two national and four provincial assembly seats of the district. Before the last demarcation, Rajanpur’s share was one-and-a-half national and three provincial assembly seats.

The ‘political romance’ of Leghari chief Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan and Dreshak chief Sardar Nasrullah Khan is intact despite the latter has some complaints against the former president and now the Millat Party chief.

Insiders say, in fact, the Dreshak chief finds himself in a helpless condition before the Leghari chief as the latter has mustered support of some influential Dreshak clan personalities like Dr Hafeezur Rehman Dreshak and Amanullah Khan Dreshak. Both Hafeez and Amanullah were in the Leghari camp when Leghari was a PPP stalwart. Amanullah contested against his chief for the then PP-205 in a one-on-one bout in 1988 on PPP ticket and the latter on IJI ticket. Sardar Dreshak won the contest.

Similarly, Dr Hafeez was pitched by the Leghari chief from the same provincial assembly constituency in 1990 on Pakistan Democratic Alliance ticket against the Dreshak chief. The chief again returned on IJI ticket. In 1993 elections, the Leghari chief came out with a different strategy. No one was awarded PPP ticket and Amanullah was fielded as an independent candidate against his chief who this time was also contesting as an independent candidate. The scheme worked and Sardar Dreshak lost the constituency to Amanullah.

On the eve of 1997 elections, the Dreshak chief realized the penetration of the Leghari chief in his tribe and, therefore, thought it better to strike an alliance rather than fighting a loosing battle. Consequently, the Leghari-Dreshak alliance fielded joint candidates and became victorious. Dreshak returned MNA for the first time in his political career defeating the Mazari chief and former caretaker prime minister, Mir Balakh Sher Mazari.

In the local elections held under the devolution plan, the Leghari-Dreshak alliance won the district’s top slot with Dr Hafeezur Rehman elected as Nazim, while in Jampur and Rajanpur tehsils the panels backed by the alliance secured the top offices. Mazaris could secure only tehsil Nazimship of their hometown, Rojhan Mazari. For the Oct 10 elections, the Leghari-Dreshak alliance has fielded ex-MNA Sardar Jaffar Khan Leghari for NA-174 and Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak for NA-175.

The Mazaris have made an alliance with Gurchani clan chiefs and fielded new entrant Gorash Khan Gurchani against Jaffar Leghari and Sardar Mazari’s nephew Khalid Bashir Mazari against the Dreshak chief.

Zaffar Ahmad Lond (PPP) and Chaudhry Rafi (MMA) are also in the contest for NA-174 and Wali Muhammad Sajid (PML-N), Sarwar Abbas (PPP) and Tariq Mazari (MMA) for NA-175, but there is no chance for none of them against tribal chiefs.

In PP-247, the Leghari-Dreshak alliance has put Sardar Leghari’s son Awais Leghari while the Mazari-Gurchani alliance is backing PML-N candidate Nadeem Ahmad Shah. Rauf Lond of the PPP is also in the race.

In PP-248, the Leghari-Dreshak alliance has fielded Sardar Dreshak’s son Hasnain Dreshak, the Mazari-Gurchani alliance is supporting Gorash Gurchani while Karim Nawaz Korai and Tariq Dreshak are contesting on PPP and MMA tickets, respectively.

Amanullah Dreshak is contesting with the backing of the Leghari-Dreshak alliance for PP-249 against Rao Zia Latif (PML-N), Amer Koreja (PPP), Awais Khan Dreshak (MMA) and Rasheed Ahmad Khan (Pakistan Seraiki Party).

There are only three candidates in the run for PP-250. The Leghari-Dreshak alliance is supporting PPP-dissident Shaukat Mazari, the Mazari-Gurchani alliance is backing Mussarat Mazari while Ghulam Farid Koreja is contesting on PPP ticket.

The Mazari-Gurchani alliance is in low spirits especially after the death of former district council chairman and PML-N’s Punjab vice-president Javed Iqbal Gurchani. Nawab Shah DPO Akhtar Gurchani who enjoys immense influence in his clan is also supporting the Leghari-Dreshak alliance after his son, Azhar Gurchani, has joined the camp, though being underage he could not qualify to contest the polls.

In this context, Jaffar Legahri and Awais Legahri are likely to become victorious from their respective national and provincial assembly seats on the Millat Party ticket. Dreshak and Shaukat Mazari are contesting as independent candidates from the platform of the Leghari-Dreshak alliance with tonga as election symbol.

Hasnain (PP-248) and Amanullah (PP-249) might face a little difficult situation because of the Dreshak candidates contesting against them on MMA ticket, but they are unlikely to lose the battle.

There will be a contest for NA-175 between Sardar Dreshak and Khalid Bashir Mazari but the position of the former is stated to be strong. The most interesting contest will be in PP-250 between Sardar Mazari’s candidate Mussarat Mazari and Leghari-Dreshak alliance’s Shaukat Mazari. This can be a neck-and-neck contest but keeping in view that Rojhan is the stronghold of Sardar Mazari, one can assess that even desisting PPP will not work for Shaukat Mazari.