Prominent Sindhi nationalists have banded together for the first time to challenge the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) supremacy in Sindh’s political landscape, contesting the general elections from many provincial constituencies.
Ayaz Latif Palijo of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), Dr Qadar Magsi of the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STP), and Syed Zain Shah of the Sindh United Party (SUP) are all supporting each other in the forthcoming February 8 elections.
Palijo is running for PS-60 Qasimabad, Hyderabad; Dr Magsi for PS-67 Tando Muhammad Khan; and Shah for PS-38 Sakrand, Nawabshah, as well as NA-208, Nawabshah.
Riaz Chandio, the Chairman of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz, has also shown support for Sindhi nationalism. According to political experts, the coalition between these groups looked to be in response to the PPP’s “poor governance” in the province.
“There hasn’t been a massive response for the nationalists, but there is anti-PPP sentiment that they could exploit,” Aftab Memon, a Hyderabad-based journalist and political commentator, said. He referred to Qasimabad as “mini Sindh” since the majority of its population came from various regions of the province.
Palijo defeated Jam Khan Shoro of the PPP by more than 13,000 votes in the 2018 elections. “The old residents will support the PPP but the newly-arriving Sindhis as usual will cast their votes either in favour of the nationalists or the PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf],” Memon went on to say.
Dr Magsi, on the other hand, underlined that it was not an alliance, but rather a mutual understanding, emphasizing that the people of Sindh desired change and an end to PPP dominance in the provinces.
Despite being aware of the PPP’s 15-year hegemony, Sindhi nationalists were resolved to undermine their authority. “We’ll surprise the PPP in these elections,” Dr Magsi told The Express Tribune. “People of Sindh do not want to see PPP in power anymore.”
Dr Magsi, despite not being a member of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), which was founded just before the 2018 elections to unite all anti-PPP groups, enjoys significant moral support from it for obvious reasons.
Dr Magsi ran for a national assembly seat in Nawabshah in 2018 to prevent Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP’s co-chairman and president of the party’s electoral platform, the PPP-Parliamentarians, from winning unopposed.
Dr Magsi, Palijo, Shah, and their colleagues pledge progress in Sindh through their election campaigns, including infrastructure development, merit-based jobs, improved healthcare, tackling the issue of ghost schools, and combatting drug and tobacco sales.
“We will do something together that has not been done in the last 15 years,” Palijo stated at a Dr Magsi election rally in his area.
Dr. Ali Rind, a distinguished journalist and political commentator, viewed the participation of Sindhi nationalists as a positive development because it threatened the landed class’s 40-year domination over provincial politics.
He underlined that the PPP‘s administration had created a climate in which citizens were hesitant to vote against it.
Furthermore, he stated that this open collaboration among Sindhi nationalists against conventional politicians was a remarkable occurrence after 1988, building on the heritage of Rasool Bux Palijo and Comrade Jam Saqi, both major players on Sindh’s political scene.
However, it appeared that Sindhi nationalists were constrained to contesting the PPP in the province’s core districts, avoiding direct battles in northern districts and Karachi, owing to low resources.
Dr. Rind stated that capturing one seat may open the path for increased participation in several districts. “Sindhi nationalists have limited resources and that’s why they cannot contest elections from all the districts,” he went on to say.
Mahesh Kumar, another Hyderabad-based writer, interpreted this alliance as the birth of a viable opposition to the PPP in Sindh. He recommended nationalists to maintain constant touch with people, grasp electoral dynamics, and overcome the psychological power of PPP politicians.
For Kumar, Sindhi nationalists were working together to provide an alternative to Sindh’s people, who were unsatisfied with the PPP’s government during the previous 15 years. “This represents a shift in the political landscape and a potential challenge to the longstanding dominance of traditional politicians.”
Kumar said that nationalists from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were already in parliament. “It is a good sign that the Sindhi nationalists, who were not contesting general elections, supporting each other to challenge the PPP’s dominance,” he went on to say.
Kumar proposed that nationalists maintain constant contact with their constituents in order to gain popular support. “They need to understand election politics,” he said. Essentially, he claimed, the PPP candidates were psychologically controlling the electoral environment.
Maria Ghanchi