Day 6: Power, people and religion

Location: Bhera

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I rode for around 200 kilometres yesterday shuttling from one village to the other in this plane between river Chenab and Jhelum, or the Chaj Doab. My search for a public political event in a village, however, remained futile. It was tiring and by the time I reached my night stay spot, I timed out for writing. I decided to spend the day at Bhera.

Bhera's oldest mosque.

 

Prayer leader and Custodian of Bhera mosque, Maulana Ibrar Ahmed Bugvi.

Bhera is an old historic place. It figured prominently on the route from northwest to Delhi in our per-colonial maps. For all the invaders, the biggest logistical hurdle, after scaling the northwestern mountains, was to cross the rivers. So towns and forts were built at strategic points on the river banks. Since the rivers were a major means of transport, these towns also flourished on regional trade.

But then the invaders took a different route and later the railways became the major means of transport. The map changed and towns like Bhera disappeared. History is cruel.

Bhera made a come back a decade or so ago, when a stream of motor vehicles started flowing besides it – the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway. It is no surprise then that the road is the dominant metaphor in the political jargon here.

Nawaz Sharif dey changay kam, motorway tey atom bum.

Bhera is both happy and disappointed by the lucky break that it has got. A few jobs, shortened travel time to big cities and easy access to larger markets for vegetable farmers – is all the Motorway offers it. This, of course is not enough to restore its past glory. The Motorway is very possessive about its economy and jealously guards and taxes, its direct and indirect users; there are no free rides on Motorway. It's fenced from both sides all through its course. Bhera thus, got some relief but remains in slumber.

The impact of the Motorway on its politics has been likewise. It gave Nawaz League a break in this PPP stronghold but didn't dislodge the old players altogether.

The Pracha family has the most entrenched of political interests in this area. Their elders supported Muslim League in the per-Partition politics, and benefitting from the creation of Pakistan, grew into a large business house. They remained unchallenged for too long and associated themselves with whoever was in power. Their longest association was, however, with PPP.

General Zia upgraded a pir family from Bhera by offering their elder a position in the Sharia branch of judiciary. The family was also supported by foreign Muslim donors to set up a large seminary, alongside the mazaar of their elder pir. It now sits atop a sprawling religious establishment. It needs politics to further the interests of its spiritual empire and even though it has lost more elections to Prachas than it has won, it has established itself as the biggest challenger to the traditional wielders of power.

Another challenger to the Pracha power is a doctor, a new class of wealthy professionals. His cast, Bharth, is written on most posters in smaller print than his educational qualification. He defeated the PPP's candidate for Bhera area's provincial seat, another Pracha, in 2002 with just a few hundred votes.

The victory margin in NA 64 Sargodha 1 has mostly been low – less than 5,000 – and the turnout high, around 50 per cent.

The Mazaar.

 

The Madrassah.

 

The dera of the PML-N candidate.

Prachas made a blunder when they ditched PPP in 2002 to form the pro-Musharraf faction called the Patriots. They were already on a slippery ground as by now their economic interests had moved outside the constituency, though it remained their fountain of political power. They could not handle this dichotomy and lost to a new nominee of PPP, Nadeem Afzal Chan. The contest by now had also transformed into a more intriguing triangular fight and the margins among the three are so low that all the contenders consider these surmountable. Chan succeeded but knew that it will be hard to sustain the success. He is, however, still doing good.

I found his avid supporters everywhere from brick kilns to mosques to markets. They all praise him for the great development work that he has done for his constituent. Even his opponents admit that it is hard to match him on merit. Some went as far as saying that if he lost this time, it would only be because he carries 'the burden of PPP's sins'. I met voters in the neighbouring constituency who envied NA 64 and said that had he been the candidate in their constituency, they would have voted for him.

The reason behind his popularity is simple – the many development projects that he brought to his area. On top of the list of his great works is the provision of natural gas to over a 100 villages.

I met some families who had just received the natural gas supply. It is very difficult for an urban middle class person to imagine what life means without such basic facilities. Please, don't compare it with the loadshedding that we now face in our cities. Collecting, arranging cooking fuel and taking its care is a major chore of daily lives and then suddenly, thanks to one person, it becomes as easy as 1, 2, 3. The transformation in the daily life of the family is astounding; and bound to reflect on their voting decision.

Maulana Ibrar Bugvi was articulate and blunt. He is the prayer leader and the custodian of the oldest mosque in Bhera, constructed by Sher Shah Suri. He told me that no one can win on passing an amendment to the constitution and that at the grass roots level what matters is a change in your daily life.

He is an amazing man. It seems that he is the custodian of this small town's history and its future as well. He has setup a small museum of Bhera in one of the rooms of the mosque. This is how he briefed me about the past days and crafts of his hometown.

In the microcosm of Bhera, I found contenders of power whose locus standi in politics are different and divergent and none have a clear dominance over the other. An evenly poised polity shall give birth to a hung parliament. The parties thus are struggling to find the winning combination. PML-N is siding with the pir and the doctor, PPP is betting on its 'development' hero, while the ironic part is that PTI is supporting the derailed old guards, the Prachas.

There are minnows too who signify smaller interest groups. I asked a small shopkeeper about the Sipah-e-Sahaba poster that he had displayed. He said this was just to empathise with his sect-fellows (he identified it as Deobandi) but he will vote for PML-N.

When I further inquired from others, I realised that this candidature is probably meant to assert the sectarian identity of a group or to ensure that their support to Nawaz League, who is supporting a non-Deobandi, a pir, shall not be misunderstood as their disavowal of their faith.