UMERKOT: Pakistan is just a week away from elections – but the people of Mirpurkhas seem unenthusiastic about politicking and voting.

The reason behind this is mostly concerned with the lack of party ideology behind each candidate they could possibly choose.

Thanks to General Zia ul Haq, even parties which revolved around specific ideologies, contain within them the protégé of military dictators.

Without the ideology, therefore, old power structures continue to usher in voters. Certain renowned spiritual leaders are all busy in the election race in the Mirpurkhas region – including Pir Pagara of the Hur Jamaat, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the Ghousia Jamaat and Makhdoom Amin Fahim of the Sarwari Jamaat amongst others.

These men are not only spiritual leaders but political heavyweights, and happen to have a large number of disciples in the Mirpurkhas region. Competing alongside the pirs are feudal lords in the area comprising Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tharparkar and Umerkot.

Political analyst and writer Mir Hassan Arisar recalls how when the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) came into being in 1968, it changed the landscape of traditional politics which had always had little emphasis on people power.

“Unfortunately Bhutto could not deliver what he had promised. Therefore the 1977 elections could not give the results hoped for. This made the path clear for Zia to push the country into the darkness of depoliticisation. Zia introduced non-political feudal lords, mirs, pirs and clan chieftains and formed so-called political institutions which cultivated the seeds of corruption and terrorism.”

These very politicians are now modern-day candidates of various political parties – including the PPP.

This is why votes are no longer cast on a party basis, but rather on the basis of personal relations, fear, and rigging.

Columnist Arbab Nek Muhammad appreciates ECP’s move to ban seeking votes in the name of ethnic and religious affiliation. He explains that if implemented correctly, the country can once become truly involved in the political process. NGOs, bar councils and the media can play a pivotal role in this, he adds.

Pirs and politics

Prominent leftist Jam Saqi points to how history shows how when the previous Pir Pagara entered politics, he did so through his contacts in the establishment. Pagara offered members of the Hur Jamaat to the Pakistan Army to defend the border. Later, Sarwari Jamait of Hala led by Makhdoom Talibul Mola, the Pirs of Kamaro Sharif Jeelani Jamaat headed by Noor Muhammad Shah Jeelani, and Ghousia Jamait led Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi entered the political race.

Saqi says that as a result of illiteracy, disciples obey their pir and do not question his ability, his performance or the services he has rendered – rather, they blindly vote for him.

Allah Bux Kunbhar, an independent candidate contesting from PS-70 says, “It was the duty of Pirs to show their disciples the right path towards religion and Allah, through education and awareness. But here in the name of prayers for the disciples’ benefit, people are cheated. Kunbhar explains that politics is practiced to resolve the issues of the state, but people are made hostage by pirs, feudal lords, mirs and other political criminals. The people who are really deserving and have political will have not been voted in.”

Meanwhile, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is running as a PTI candidate on NA-228 and NA-230 in Umerkot and Tharparkar says that he is asking for votes not as a pir but as a political worker, adding that he believes in democracy.

None of his disciples are bound to vote for him because they’re all free to vote and decide, he says, while acknowledging the death of ideology and the prevalence of the ‘feudal mindset’.