Each time an election is imminent, a question is asked: will the Sindhi nationalists or other parties give the PPP a run for their money. And each time the question is answered in the negative.
Now, once again, as Sindh slouches towards local government elections — the uncertainty regarding the date of the polls notwithstanding — it appears as if the ruling Pakistan People’s Party will stroll to victory.
Asked about the readiness of nationalist groups — those who participate in parliamentary politics — as well as mainstream parties such as the PML-Functional and PML-N, senior journalist Sohail Sangi remarked that opposition groups appeared even less prepared than at the time of the general elections.
“There is no effort this time around. The PPP will most likely have a walkover. If the nationalists work hard they can open up the field. It is an opportunity to work at the grass roots. Yet nothing is being done.”
Jalal Mehmood Shah, chief of the nationalist Sindh United Party, feels that though the pitch has been queered by the PPP and MQM, his party will still participate in the elections.
“We will definitely participate. However, we feel that the MQM and PPP have made the [local government] law for themselves. It is a discriminatory law. The panel system does not allow independent, capable candidates to participate.
We also feel the delimitations are not fair. But we do not want to leave the field open for opportunists.”
Asked if his party would form any electoral alliances, Mr Shah said no such plans were in the offing, however SUP cadres at the district level had been empowered to cooperate with other parties where they felt necessary.
Among the nationalists, along with the SUP the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party of Qadir Magsi and Ayaz Latif Palejo’s Qaumi Awami Tehreek are also likely to participate in the LG polls.
The people of Sindh want teachers in their schools, because at present individuals show up to draw salaries but do not teach a single lesson. They want well-stocked and well-staffed clinics for at present funds are released for health centres but the medicines never reach the ailing. They want jobs and development. They want freedom from criminals and extortionists.
Whoever can deliver these basics (or at least appear to have a plan to do so) and liaise with the people will find success at the polls, whether local, provincial or national.
And here is where the alternatives to the PPP in Sindh fail: if the PPP offers little, the alternatives offer even less in terms of idea for the people’s uplift. Hence the PPP is comfortably numb, aware of the fact that despite its failure on many fronts where service delivery is concerned, it will cruise to success in Sindh at the local level.
Apart from southern Sindh’s urban centres, where the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has dominated at the ballot box for the past nearly three decades, and a few non-PPP ‘hereditary constituencies’ in rural Sindh, the PPP should have no problem in capturing seats at the local level.
There are reasons for the voter’s attachment to the PPP, other than emotional attachment to the Bhutto name. Whilst many common citizens in Sindh are vocal about the party’s lack of performance, especially during the 2008-2013 period in power, they say no other party reaches out to the people. It may be riddled with inefficiency and corruption, but at least it delivers some of what it promises, whereas other parties remain aloof from the people, they say.
“People feel they get jobs and the area witnesses development under PPP rule. They feel they would get nothing under the PML-N. Musharraf carried out development work, but there were no jobs”, said Ghulam Abbas, a political activist based in Naudero, part of the area considered the home base of the PPP.
“I think in the LG polls the PPP will get even more votes than the general elections. At the time of the general elections some people were upset with the PPP, yet they still voted for the party”, said Ghulam Sarwar Narejo, another resident of Naudero.
That is perhaps the enigma of the PPP in Sindh: people openly criticise the party, yet even those with a soft corner for Sindhi nationalist groups will stamp on the arrow come election day because there are no viable alternatives.