HYDERABAD: The role of Sindhi nationalist entities in parliamentary politics was discussed threadbare Dr Qadir Magsi, head of the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP), and Ayaz Latif Palijo, chief of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), at one of the sessions held during the two-day Hyderabad Literature Festival (HLF) that concluded at the Sindh Museum on Sunday.
The two leaders observed that parliamentary politics in Sindh had been a ‘social club’ of feudal lords for the last past 75 years.
“Nationalist leaders like us could not change this political landscape alone but we still hope that parliamentary politics of nationalists now seem to be gaining ground,” they said.
The session was moderated by Manzoor Shaikh.
“People often question why nationalists failed in parliamentary politics. But nobody discusses [that how] G.M. Syed was elected before Pakistan’s inception. Hyder Bux Jatoi opted for electoral path; Imdad Shah and Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah were also part of assemblies. Then G.M. Syed and Hyder Bux Jatoi lost [in elections],” argued Dr Magsi.
Qadir Magsi, Ayaz Palijo see G.M. Syed’s ideology gaining ground
He said that two kinds of Sindh’s nationalist politics used to be seen in the past – pure patriotism before 70s; and ideological nationalist politics that started in the post-70 period. “It’s instilled in people’s minds that politics is a wadera shahi’s job,” he said, recalling that he never opted for parliamentary politics till 90s only to leave the field open for waderas (feudal lords).
“But now people are showing activism and I hope prospects of parliamentary politics for nationalists will improve,” he believed.
“Our educated class has become opportunists. We [Sindhi nationalists] resisted Gen Yahya’s Martial Law,” he said, and remarked: “Qadir Magsi, Ayaz Latif or Jalal Shah alone can’t change Sindh”.
He observed that election expenses at the minimum side were around Rs10m and a wadera of Sindh spends Rs250m to Rs300m on his electioneering. “This we simply can’t afford,” he argued. “If Sindh’s intelligentsia agrees, then over 100 potential candidates could be fielded in Sindh but, unfortunately, there are only three leaders amongst us [nationalists] to fill 130 general seats of Sindh Assembly,” he regretted.
The STP chief believed that a pro-motherland Sindh individual could not be supporter of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He deplored the fact that only failure of nationalist politics was discussed but its successes ignored.
“This time governor and caretaker CM are Urdu-speaking people. I wonder where is Sindh’s conscience,” he remarked.
BISP aimed at buying women vote: Palijo
Ayaz Latif Palijo observed that Sindh did not have democracy, and pointed out that the province had been outsourced. Alluding to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) stipend for women, he said nowhere in the world women were given Rs3,000 each a month for her vote. “Democracy remains missing in our system and decisions about rulers are taken somewhere else instead of merit,” he said.
“History tells people who did like [PPP founder] Z.A. Bhutto five-six years before he was given the reign of government … after 2018 polls, PTI was chosen for the top government slot; and now PML-N is being given powers … in lieu of it, PPP is being given powers in Sindh,” Palijo claimed.
Whenever people of Sindh would throng polling stations, this would bring the system for rigging to an end. “People used to say if nationalists forge unity, PPP will be wiped out and we three leaders are fighting against PPP, they ask us for alternative narrative,” he said, adding that these elements only needed excuses.
Session on ‘Police and public’
At another session, on ‘Police and public’, former Sindh inspector general Dr Syed Kaleem Imam discussed how society and policing could be changed. He discussed his own book, Kotwalnama (a collection of his essays.
The session was moderated by journalist Fahim Siddiqui. Police officers including Zulfikar Larik, Amjad Shaikh (a recipient of Tamgha-i-Shujaat) and Suhaee Aziz shared their views.
Dr Imam said that people tend to criticise police “but if an ad appears in newspapers for police jobs, most of audience will be ready to apply for it”. He stressed that people also needed to change themselves, first of all.
He observed that in Japan, a child is imparted education about how to be a civilised citizen before he or she gets formal education.
Amjad Shaikh conceded that ‘political bosses’ needed to change themselves because political interference was there.
He said Dr Imam had asked SSPs to ensure that SHOs were appointed on a merit basis and with tenure security, and argued: “But political interference is not negative all the time. We can take political influence in different context and we can’t be immune to political influence as a chief minister is a political figure and he has a legal say in transfer and postings. “We can take public input to make political bosses behave,” he asserted.
Zulfiqar Larik said police needed to be reshaped for ‘service delivery’ and for this we need to change colonial laws to bring laws in conformity with present conditions. He said accessibility needed to be ensured in Sindh’s riverine area where things remained difficult.
Suhaee Aziz said there were taboos about women working in police but, yes, society did object to it. “Problem lies in society and not with police where environment is sound,” she said, and added that traffic policewomen wanted posting in offices and resist duty on roads.
Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2024
