KARACHI, Feb 22: As the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has emerged from the Feb 18 general elections as the holder of the highest number of seats in the Sindh Assembly, giving it the ability to form the government, speculations are rife about who the party is likely to choose for the top provincial slot of chief minister.
In the unofficial tally of votes available so far, the PPP bagged 69 seats, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) came second with 39 seats, the PML-Q took 10 seats, the PML-F won seven seats while the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) took two and two seats respectively. One seat, meanwhile, was won by an independent candidate.
In the 168-member House, there are 130 directly-elected seats while 29 are reserved for women and nine for non-Muslims. The reserved seats will be allotted on the basis of party strength according to the formula laid out in the Constitution.
A calculation of the number of reserved seats likely to be bagged by the PPP shows that its strength is likely to rise to over 89, four seats more than the minimum of 85 seats required to form the government.
The PPP, which is holding consultation sessions in Islamabad with its elected candidates from all four provinces, is likely to announce the name of the parliamentary party’s leader within the next 48 hours.
Since the 1985 party-less polls, this is the first test facing the PPP’s leadership and its successful candidates, particularly in Sindh where the second-largest group, the MQM, continues to demonstrate its firm hold of major provincial urban centres such as Karachi and Hyderabad. And, despite having the strength required for the formation of a government, the PPP appears poised to take the pragmatic approach and seek the cooperation of not only the MQM but also the ANP, which succeeded in getting two seats in the assembly for the first time.
Sources close to the PPP leadership told Dawn that given past experiences, when the parliamentary party meets after the notification of the poll results, it would prefer to select a cool-headed personality who would prove capable of taking along other coalition partners.
The names floated amongst journalists as candidates for the top slot include Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman, Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq and Manzoor Wasan. If past practice is followed, the ultimate choice could be Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who is the president of the Sindh chapter of the PPP and has experience as the chief executive of the province.
Well-qualified contenders
However, insiders say that the party leadership is also mulling over keeping the party office separate from the chief executive of the province, so that the party representative remains accessible to supporters from the grass-roots level.
These sources say that the party high command as well as a large number of successful MPAs are of the opinion that in this case, where the party and government offices are to be separated, the opportunity to lead the province may be given to a comparatively young but experienced leader who would be taken seriously by the shrewd bureaucracy and would also be able to deliver whilst taking along the coalition partners. In this scenario, they said, a suitable choice may be Nisar Khuhro, who is a former law minister, twice the leader of the parliamentary party and the leader of the opposition.
However, three other aspirants are on an equally strong footing in terms of getting the chief ministership in this scenario: Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman, Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq and Manzoor Wasan.
Being soft-spoken and level-headed, Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman may be strong a contender, but only as long as Makhdoom Amin Faheem is denied the coveted office of the prime minister of Pakistan. He is already being tipped as the party’s ultimate choice.
However, this is nevertheless considered a remote possibility since it is only likely if, for some reason, the party decides to give the prime ministership to a province other than Sindh.
As the grandson of ex-chief minister, the late Pir Ellahi Bux, Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq is also a strong contender for the job. He is closely related to the Qazis, another political family from Sindh, and enjoys the backing of the Syed group. Furthermore, he is known as a staunch party loyalist and is also a former provincial law and parliamentary minister.
As far experience and the required dynamism are concerned, Manzoor Wasan is no less than any other contender. Not only is he very close to party co-chairperson Asif Zardari, he also enjoys the reputation of a good administrator and a trustworthy friend. He could, therefore, be another choice for the job.
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