Lodhran by-polls: a clash between local personalities

ISLAMABAD: The NA-154 Lodhran contest on Wednesday is between the Baloch clan led by the Jindh Wadha family and affluent Jehangir Tareen and is not a clash between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on ground.

The two parties are being used by both contestants – PTI’s Tareen and PML-N’s Siddique Baloch - to foster their political positions. The party tickets are just a political convenience. This is proved by the political track record of the two contestants.

The Lodhran politics is unique and revolves around local grouping and personalities. Late Siddique Kanju, former minister of state for foreign affairs, is one personality that dominated its politics during his life and after his death.

From 1985 onwards, the PML-N also left Lodhran politics to Kanju’s whims and wishes. He was a leading associate and personal friend of Nawaz Sharif. After his death, his sons and confidants decided to pursue local politics under the banner of the Shaheed Kanju group, and his son Abdul Rehman and Siddique Baloch became its joint leaders.

They twice captured the position of Nazim of Lodhran in 2001 and 2005, and got all MNA seats in the 2002 and 2008 elections.

Even before 2013 elections, the Kanju group led by Abdur Rehman and Siddique Baloch, was engaged in 2-month long negotiations to join the PML-N. However, things did not materialise since the Kanju group wanted absolute control of Lodhran whereas the PML-N wanted space for its nonexistent rank and file.

The group decided to contest independently and defeated both the PTI and the PML-N on all the two National Assembly seats and five MPA seats. Later, they en bloc joined the PML-N, putting a seal of un-deniability of their total control of local politics, the point they again proved in recent local elections once again.

Little known Siddique Baloch, the key strategist of Kanju group, can’t be wished away in Lodhran politics. Since 1988 to this day, he has been in every legislature, national and provincial.

He also has a flair for political opportunism. After the death of his father, Jindh Wadha, who was MPA in 1985, he inherited the constituency, and till 1999 remained a PML-N Young Turk having close relations with Shahbaz Sharif. After military coup, he became a companion of Chaudhrys of Gujrat and joined the PML-Q. In 2008, he was one of a few MNAs elected on PML-Q ticket, and continued to be one of a few MNAs who roughed it out with Deputy Prime Minister Pervez Elahi, although all along he kept good communication with PML-N also.

Siddique Baloch is a street smart seasoned Biradari (caste)-based politician. He is known for his close liaison with constituents. It is said that he literally maintains 24/7 liaison with his constituency particularly the Baloch clan. This is the point he is trying to sell most against Tareen, alleging that people can’t even meet Tareen’s managers what to think of meeting Tareen for resolution of their day-to-day problems. He is a traditional thana-katuchery politician who would stand by his supporters irrespective of merits of the issue.

Baloch and Tareen have had their share of controversies. Tareen has been in limelight for his questionable corporate practices, criticized by his partner and brother-in-law, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmod. He was even indicted by Justice Wajiuddin in his famous inquiry report of PTI’s internal elections. Many in the PTI take exception to his manipulation and moneyed influence in the party. Similarly Siddique Baloch’s educational degree has been under scrutiny and of late his papers were rejected for tax malpractices.

In essence, it is contest between two different varieties of political ambitions - one clannish, parochial, Biradari-based and rustic and not beyond thana-katuchery while the second ambition is much larger corporate, chief ministerial if  not prime ministerial, supported by philanthropy, private jets, air strips, public opinion surveys by international companies and corporate farming. Both ambitions this time around are using the PTI and the PML-N to strengthen their bid.

Tareen was introduced in politics by now estranged Ahmed Mahmood, the former Punjab governor, in 1997. Ahmed Mehmood was then a key member of the Nawaz Sharif cabinet and has personal friendship with Shahbaz Sharif.

Ahmed Mehmood introduced Tareen to Shahbaz Sharif, who was impressed by his (Tareen’s) insights of progressive agriculture and innovative ideas and made him the Chairman of Agriculture Task Force. Tareen used the position effectively to build his profile and gain proximity to the chief minister. When the military coup ended the PML-N government, Tareen was considered more influential than the elected ministers.

However soon after the military takeover, Tareen was one of the first to jump the PML-N bandwagon. He and Ahmed Mehmood decided to further their political ambitions in line with Pervez Musharraf’s agenda. This decision got Ahmed Mehmood released from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after a few days of his arrest in 2000.

Informed people know that when Begum Kalsoom Nawaz was waging a struggle against Musharraf, she even approached Ahmed Mehmood and Tareen, who plainly refused to join PML-N campaign and aligned themselves with Musharraf and Chaudhrys of Gujrat.

As a result, Ahmed Mehmood became Nazim of Rahimyar Khan and got Tareen elected as MNA from his ancestral seat of Jamal Din Wali from where no one, other than Ahmed Mehmood or his father or their nominee, ever returned since the establishment of Pakistan.

Tareen now started advancing his political ambitions in PML-Q, but at the same time cultivated close contacts with Musharraf and generals closely linked to him specially the heads of the premier military or military-led intelligence agencies. Soon after getting elected to the National Assembly, he became key advisor to Chief Minister Pervez Elahi, and also got reenacted the agriculture task force of Shahbaz Sharif days.

This time despite being MNA he was formally notified advisor to Chief Minister Pervez Elahi. Simultaneously he started building his profile in Islamabad through interaction with diplomats, heads of Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and ambassadors of important countries.

A key tool of this endeavour was the private aircraft owned by Jamal Din Wali Sugar Mills Private Limited. He would frequently airlift these foreigners and military and civil service elite in this jet and entertain them at his farms in Lodhran and Ahmed Mehmood’s estate at Jamal Din Wali, where Mehmood maintains a palace with private airstrip and many vintage vehicles including a Rolls Royce which was used by Queen Elizabeth when she visited Pakistan.

Tareen had ministerial ambitions which could not materialise during Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali’s tenure. Soon after Shaukat Aziz induction as the premier, Tareen was made minister for industries. However, he wanted something more cross-cutting and horizontal. Through Musharraf he crafted a special portfolio unheard of in federal government, he was made minister for special initiatives. Through this mechanism, he conceived a clean drinking water project, an agriculture water courses project, and a presidential health initiative. He was frequently seen marshaling the chief ministers since these projects were essentially provincial subjects.

Having achieved a large stature, Tareen stepped on toes of some senior bureaucrats of Pervez Elahi team, who alerted Chaudhrys of Gujrat against his political profile and ambitions. Senior bureaucrats plainly advised Chaudhrys that the manner in which Tareen has built his image of a pro-development politician in eyes of Musharraf, his key generals and diplomatic and financial institutions like ADB and World Bank, his next flight will be for position of the Punjab chief minister.

Pervez Elahi having seen politics from close quarters immediately got alerted, and hence began parting of ways between Chaudhrys and Tareen. Pervez Elahi started supporting a group led by Chaudhry Munir of Rahim Yar Khan in order to neutralize Ahmed Mehmood and Tareen. This soon generated into an open war and Tareen resigned from the office of the advisor of the chief minister and said good-bye to Chaudhrys. In a way history came full circle since his association with Shahbaz Sharif.

In 2008 again, Tareen and Ahmed Mehmood decided to jump the sinking boat of Musharraf and PML-Q and contested elections on the Functional League platform. Ahmed Mehmood became MPA and Tareen MNA only two seats secured by this party in Punjab.

Soon after 2008, sensing that the PML-N will be in power, Ahmed Mehmood and Tareen announced support for Shahbaz Sharif in Punjab and Yousaf Raza Gilani in Islamabad. Mehmood made an effort to create a role for Tareen in Shahbaz Sharif team. Tareen accompanied Shahbaz Sharif to his first visit to China also. However Sharifs known for not to trust associates, who left them in 1999, did not give any key role to Tareen or Ahmed Mehmood.

Tareen, in the meantime on advice of old friends, decided to explore alternatives and formed a group comprising Legharis, Ishaq Khakwani, Sikandar Bosan and Ghulam Sarwar Khan, and collectively decided to explore future politics from the PTI platform. However, Bosan and Legharis later abandoned the PTI and joined the PML-N.

Although Tareen was elected from Rahim Yar Khan, but he was trying to develop an alternate constituency for himself in Lodhran, where he has some 1,500 acres of large corporate farm. He strategically launched two NGOs in Lodhran called Lodhran pilot project and Ali Tareen Foundation. Both ironically were provided a foothold by Shahbaz Sharif in 1999. Tareen sold a reform project to Shahbaz Sharif and took control of three Basic Health Units (BHUs) in the vicinity of his farm as a private-public partnership model.

He intelligently used this to raise his standing as a philanthropist in the area. Again in 2008 in the initial stage of his second political honeymoon he convinced Shahbaz Sharif to give 50 government primary schools to his NGO, Ali Tareen Foundation, to launch a project of running stated-owned educational institutions through private participation. He succeeded in clinching this initiative despite immense opposition from local MPA of PML-N, who could see seeds of politics in this innocent looking NGO initiative.

These two NGOs form the basis of Tareen’s politics in the area. He donated funds from his public limited sugar mills to advance his political ambition in Lodhran. He got donor funds from World Bank, USAID and DFID for these NGOs. Although later developments proved that NGOs were part of large political launch and image building exercise. A visit to Facebook page of these NGOs gives a feeling as if it belongs to the PTI.

This alternate arrangement soon came handy when Tareen fell out with Ahmed Mehmood after a dispute pertaining to management of Jamal Din Wali Sugar Mills Group which owns four sugar mills and is the largest single sugar producing group in Pakistan. Ahmad Mehmood is its chairman and Tareen the CEO.

Ahmed Mehmood alleged corporate fraud and inside trading resulting in Tareen getting majority shares in sugar mills group originally owned by the Ahmed Mehmood family. The dispute was resolved through intervention of major banks, which feared a crises for financial sector since the group owed billions of rupees as loans to more than a dozen banks. A commercial arrangement was worked out, which resulted in removal of Tareen’s two personal servants from position of independent directors and induction of Ahmed Mehmood’s wife as director in company and joint management under which one of Ahmed Mehmood’s son also started sitting in company office.

However parting of political paths was permanent as Tareen had to resign from the Rahim Yar Khan seat of the National Assembly from where Ahmed Mehmood got his son elected.Hence, Tareen reverted to his plan B and contested 2013 elections from Lodhran and lost to Siddique Baloch, then an independent candidate, with the PML-N being distant third.