HYDERABAD: Excited workers of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) were raising slogans in a narrow street of Paretabad’s Saghar Colony as their party leaders were taking on a rival political party, whose meeting was in progress in the same street a few paces away. Still, the proceedings of both meetings remained peaceful.

JUP workers and supporters filled the streets and roads of Phulelli and Paretabad whenever the late Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani visited the areas, which used to be a stronghold of the party in its heyday until late 1970s and 80s. There are families whose third and fourth generations are now with the JUP.

“Men like me have a pir-o-murshid sort of relationship with [Allama] Noorani to date,” says 75-year-old Malik Yasin, who has 40-year-long association with the party and is known for hosting the late Allama in his home. He reminisced about the days when people used to cling to the vehicle carrying Noorani. These areas always had an outpouring of support for him. “People even used to kiss his vehicle and the dress he wore,” he recalls, and says that people always loved to listen to him, be it a political speech or a sermon, and get close to his party as well.

Noorani had a large following within the the Barelvi school of thought in Hyderabad, as well as in the country and abroad. It is perhaps still intact but Awais Noorani’s JUP finds itself restricted to eight union committees in the City taluka — the old city area — out of the 52. It hardly managed to field candidates in the ongoing LG election and this too with the permission of the high court, which was moved by 23 committed workers after the last date of scrutiny. Yet only 18 of them submitted their forms.

Historically, Hyderabad had one seat i.e. NW-118 which covered the entire city and was won by Maulana Mohammad Ali Rizvi of the JUP. Under the new delimitation, the constituency titled NA-118 stands split into 167, 168 and 169. Allama Noorani contesting for the NW-118 thrice won it in 1977 after it became NA-167. As a Pakistan Awami Ittehad candidate, he lost it to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Aftab Ahmed Sheikh in 1988 and then to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Shabbir Ansari in 1993, when the MQM had boycotted the election.

The JUP attributed its defeats to rigging and violent politics on the part of the MQM.

Questionable performance

Leaders and cadre of the present JUP admit that the party’s performance is shockingly dismal observing that the local leadership is least interested in maintaining it as a potent political force. Local leaders like Hyderabad district president Haji Moin Sheikh believe that MQM activists restrain them from fielding candidates. “An atmosphere of harassment is created by the MQM in which people are unsure that polls will really be held,” he says.

Such an argument might be true to some extent, but one wonders if it is totally acceptable. It would have held ground had it been the previous polls or the 2005 partyless local government election. Even MQM’s detractors concede that the things are altogether different for the party amid the Karachi operation.

Leaders alarmed

A diehard JUP worker says: “People ask us who should we vote for on the other side of Phulelli bridge. This point is very pertinent as it shows that we don’t have acceptability among people outside the Phulelli area. The situation is alarming for us. We didn’t have our homework done for the present election as leaders avoid maintaining contacts with workers and that’s why many UCs remained unrepresented.” He states that had the forms of 18 candidates filed after lapse of scrutiny deadline not been submitted under the court’s orders, the party’s presence would have restricted to four UCs.

“The trend of Allama Noorani’s non-political disciples is a major obstacle in the party’s working. Political process is irrelevant to them which is a virus and cancerous for us,” he adds.

This is JUP’s influence that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal gave tickets to Sahibzada Zubair and Abdul Rehman Rajput, who won the NA-220 and PS-45 seats, respectively. MQM’s Aftab Ahmed Sheikh, who had defeated Allama Noorani in the 1988 polls, was defeated by Sahibzada Zubair in the 2002 polls. Before that, JUP’s Moinuddin Sheikh, the sitting district president of the party, also became taluka nazim city when the MQM boycotted the 2001 partyless LG poll, winning most of union councils of taluka city out of 20.

Breakaway faction

The situation is no different in the JUP breakaway faction led by Sahibzada Zubair that also ended up fielding candidates in 14 UCs only. The split in the JUP that followed its drubbing in the 2013 elections despite the fact that Sahibzada Zubair headed it for a decade has perhaps made it irrelevant for people. Awais Noorani and Sahibzada Zubair failed to iron out their differences, opting for having separate factions. So, their candidates are now up against each other in these UCs to become vote spoilers.

Sahibzada holds the Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf and the PPP responsible for this fiasco, saying these parties being part of the Tamir-i-Hyderabad Ittehad, a local alliance, secured some seats for their candidates but ended up fielding none. “Its true we have our own mistakes as well. But we never fielded candidates on all seats. I was away from the city and will now check why there was a delay in moving the high court to seek permission for filing papers of those who were somehow prevented from submitting their forms,” he says.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2015

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