‘New anti-PPP alliance in Sindh may not yield desired results for powers that be’

The union of anti-Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) political forces in Sindh, especially Sindhi nationalist groups as well as parties that are considered to be traditionally pro-establishment like the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), has been a recurring political development in the province before the general elections.

In the past, such anti-PPP alliances did not include political forces of the urban Sindh like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement as the latter’s stance against the quota system and the demand that it makes every now and then for a separate province are in total opposition to the political ideology of nationalist and rural Sindh-based parties.

Before the 2018 general elections, the trend continued with the formation of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) that comprised the PML-F, various Sindhi nationalist parties as well as former PPP leaders such as Fehmida Mirza and her spouse Zulfiqar Mirza, and Naheed Khan and her spouse Dr Safdar Abbasi.

The GDA, however, did not perform greatly in the 2018 general elections and clinched barely two to three National Assembly seats. The PML-F faced a major setback as Pir Pagara’s brother and former federal minister Sadaruddin Shah lost to Shazia Marri in a Sanghar constituency. A major victory for the GDA was Fehmida’s win in Badin. Her husband, however, lost to the PPP in another Badin constituency. Ironically, another MNA elected on the GDA ticked in the 2018 polls, Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, recently announced his decision to join the PPP along with his MPA son Sheharyar Mahar.

This time, however, an interesting development has taken place with the MQM-P becoming part of the anti-PPP alliance as it has developed close ties with the GDA, which supported the Muttahida to snatch the post of the Sindh Assembly’s leader of the opposition from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Haleem Adil Sheikh just a few weeks before the dissolution of the Sindh Assembly.

Instead of Haleem, the MQM-P’s Rana Ansar held consultations with the chief minister to finalise the name of the caretaker chief minister. After clinching the opposition leader’s slot with the GDA’s help, the MQM-P said Rana would suggest names for the caretaker chief minister after consultations with the GDA.

The camaraderie between the two opposition parties has gone beyond the slot of the opposition leader and selection of the caretaker CM. In a recent meeting, the two parties announced that they would contest the general elections together against the PPP.

The announcement suggested that the two parties may form a formal political alliance. However, inside sources say that some parties within the GDA would resist entering into a formal alliance with the MQM-P.

As there is little common in the politics of the MQM-P and many parties in the GDA, there have been speculations that the establishment is behind this ‘unnatural alliance’ as it wants to contain the PPP in Sindh.

When The News asked now former Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Sindh Assembly member Ali Khursheedi about the recent developments, he said the MQM-P and GDA had been enjoying close working relationship since 2018.

“No influential quarters are involved in bringing us closer. Both the parties believe that the 15-year rule of the Pakistan Peoples Party has destroyed Sindh, especially the urban areas of the province,” he said, adding that both the parties wanted to put an end to what he said the exploitative policies of the PPP.

When asked whether the nationalist parties that were part of the GDA could afford making an electoral alliance with the MQM-P, Khursheedi said the GDA and MQM-P had a common mission to save Sindh from the undivided rule of the PPP and over this issue, nationalist parties had the same stance.

The nationalist parties may have issues with slogans and demands of the MQM-P but they could be discussed and resolved in further meetings, he said.

“We have expressed our wish that there should be a political alliance in Sindh that could bridge the gap between the people of rural and urban areas,” Khursheedi remarked, He said the nationalists would not oppose such a desire of the MQM-P.

He said it was the PPP that sometimes used nationalist parties against the MQM-P. “We are ready to talk to them [nationalist parties] and hold dialogue for greater interest of the province.”

Meanwhile, a leader of the GDA who requested anonymity told The News that the GDA wanted honest dialogue with the MQM-P, which was why it supported the MQM-P’s leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly.

“The GDA and MQM-P were recently in talks about the caretaker set up. However, both the parties are also seriously working to make an electoral alliance against the PPP,” he stated. He, however, said that it was too early to say something about the possible alliance and reaction of the nationalist parties that were part of the GDA.

“We will not tolerate the PPP rule in the province as the party has just promoted corruption and corrupt practices in the province,” the GDA leader said. ‘Unnatural alliance’ Commenting on the friendly terms between the MQM-P and GGA, senior journalist Sohail Sangi said that the establishment had been orchestrating anti-PPP alliances in the province before the general elections in the recent years under the leadership of Pir Pagara but such efforts did not hurt the PPP.

He said Pir Pagara achieved nothing significant in return for providing his shelter to the anti-PPP feudals and nationalist parties in the province. Even the establishment could not accommodate Sadaruddin in recent Senate elections, he added.

This time, Sangi said, efforts were being made to add the MQM-P to the anti-PPP alliance. However, the journalist added that apart from creating an impression that political forces of both the rural and urban Sindh had united against the PPP, the alliance between the MQM-P and GDA was not likely to translate into electoral victories for them.

The new alliance was not likely to produce results desired by the establishment, he remarked. He said the politics of the MQM-P and nationalist parties was in total opposition to each other, and instead of boosting their combined vote bank, their alliance may even dissuade their supporters to vote for them because they would feel the parties had taken a U-turn on their fundamental ideology.

Sangi said it would be interesting to see what middle ground the GDA and MQM-P would adopt to accommodate each other in the alliance. He added that the GDA would not accept the MQM-P making a demand for a separate province and similarly the MQM-P would want the nationalist parties to soften their stance on various matters.

JUI-F’s prospects

The anti-PPP alliance may also include this time the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). However, the JUI-F would not formally join the alliance and would likely make seat adjustments at the local level.

The JUI-F’s religious identity also makes it an unnatural ally of the nationalist parties. The party would also not like to hurt its relations with the PPP in the Centre, due to which only its local leadership is likely to oppose the PPP in Sindh.

In a recent press conference, Sindh JUI-F General Secretary Allama Rashid Mahmood Soomro said that there was a need for a common strategy to get the people of Sindh out of the quagmire of problems.

He announced that the JUI-F, GDA and MQM-P would form a committee for a joint political struggle in the province. He said the general elections in the province could not be fair and transparent in the presence of Sindh’s current bureaucracy.