THATTA: Election fever in Thatta and Sujawal districts, until recently a single district, has fuelled the two-decade-old hostility between the previous political allies — the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Shirazi group — in the area.

Attracted by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s olive branch during the era of retired General Pervez Musharraf, the Shirazi group affiliated itself to that party and then to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). It has since maintained a distance from the PPP.

The PPP may have tried its best to bring the Shirazis back to its fold but this has not happened till date and the upcoming local government elections will mostly see the two rivals grab most seats at the district, union and town levels.

Apart from them, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Qaumi Awami Tehreek, besides a few independents, are in the fray for a limited number of seats of Sujawal town committee. The PML-N has fielded two Hindu candidates in the same area while the only woman candidate in the two districts is Nasreen Sumejo, who desperately tried to win a PPP ticket for a seat of the Jati UC but in vain. She is contesting as an independent candidate and is often seen carrying a PPP flag. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has also fielded a few candidates in Dhabeji.

Traditionally, the Shirazi group has maintained its considerable hold in Thatta and Sujawal with Shafqat Shah Shirazi and other family members and close relatives including Aijaz Shah Shirazi, Ayaz Shah Shirazi and Haider Shah Shriazi winning the national and provincial assemblies seats and some of them becoming federal or provincial ministers. Shafqat Shirazi has remained a Senator and also headed the district council from 1983 to 1987.

The two districts are now going to polls in the second phase of the local bodies elections on Nov 19.

Repeated allegations and apprehensions about rigging by the ruling PPP have turned the atmosphere tense, but the general public seems determined to use the right to franchise.

The Shirazi group has fielded its candidates on almost all seats in the two districts. It has joined hands with another politically and socially powerful Jokhio tribe headed by Jam Bijar Khan, whose son, Jam Owais Gohram is actively canvassing for the group in a vast area on the right bank of the Indus dominated by his tribe.

The groups main contestants for the Thatta district council are Syed Bahar Ali Shah Quddusani and Bashir Jokhio, whose rivals are former PPP MPA Ghulam Qadir Palijo (father of Senator Sassui Palijo) and his son, Sarmad Palijo, respectively in Buhara and Jangshahi UCs.

Shirazi groups’s Syed Mehtab Shah, another influential figure who has remained Thatta nazim, is fielded against a PPP candidate in Gul Manda UC.

Former PPP MPA Sadiq Memon’s cousin Mumtaz Ali Memon aka Mammi Chand is aspiring for the chairmanship of the Thatta Municipal Committee.

In the coastal taluka of Ghorabari, a neck-and-neck contest is expected between former PPP MPA Mumtaz Jalbani’s nephew Usman Jalbani and former taluka nazim Nazir Kehar.

Formerly a Shirazi group ally, Ghani Baghiar, is contesting as a PPP candidate this time in the coastal taluka of Mirpur Sakro while PPP MPA Rukhsana Shah’s son Syed Mehboob Alam Shah is eyeing the slot of Makli town committee chairman.

The PPP expects a clean sweep by fielding strong candidates against the Shirazi group in Thatta and Sujawal districts and trends show that most contests would be tough.

It has the support of heavyweights like Dr Altaf Khawaja, a member of the PPP Sindh council, and former lawmaker Arbab Wazir Memon to increase its vote bank in the lower tier of governance.

Arbab Wazir Memon has fielded his three sons for seats of Sujawal district council, and chairmanship of Sujawal and Mirpur Bathoro town committees.

The group has repeatedly demanded deployment of army and Rangers troops across the two districts alleging that the PPP had planned rigging to snatch public mandate.

In this district, the trend has taken a turn due to the recent defection of MPA Mohammed Ali Malkani from the Shirazi group to the PPP, said to be under the influence of the then PPP MPA Syed Owais Muzaffar Hashmi.

Powerful Jat tribe’s chieftain Ghulam Qadir Malkani supports the PPP in Shah Bunder subdivision where the Shirazis are said to be in a weak position.

Only one Shirazi group candidate, Syed Naseer Shah Shirazi, has returned unopposed on a district council seat.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2015