By Abbas Kassar
Hyderabad: Despite applying article 61.62 and 63 of constitution of Pakistan the winning horses in election 2013 so far surfced on political scene belong to same family. It has remained political tradition of both India and Pakistan that the family rules once rules for ever. If in India the families that are elected to parliament always belong to Gandhis, Yadavs, Jaffers, Chowdhrys, Pandeys, Patels, Raos, Kamalnaths, Shaikhs, Tiwarys, Vermas, Shukla, Chatterjis and like, here in Pakistan members of same families are elected whenever polls take place.
Apart from Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim League (Nawaz) even new parties like Tehrik Insaf of Imran Khan have given tickets to those who were members of past parliament like Shah Mahmood Qureshi (former PPP ) and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi (former ML(N). Tehrik Insaf and religious parties like Jamat Islami, Jamiat Ulema Islam, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan, Brelvis and Deobandis all are constesting elections, but seems they will have have little impression with few of seats they get here and there. Nawaz Sharif family has fielded 8 candidates including himself, his brother Shahbaz Sharif (past CM of Punjab), Begum Marium Nawaz Sharif, Hamza Sharif and Captain Safdar, son in law of Nawaz Shaif. Chowdhrys of Gujerat have also feilded half dozen of their family memers including Chowdhry Shaujat (prime minister in Gen. Mushrraf rule), Pervez Illahi along with his son Munis Illahi, Wajahet Hussain, Major Tahir Sadiq, Anwer Cheema.
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Two former prime minsiters Yousuf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf have been disqualified, but their sons Moosa Gilani, Abdul Qadir Gilani and brother Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani are in the field. Former CM of Balochistan Aslam Raisani is again contesting with his brother Lashkari Raisani who is candidate of rival Nawaz League. In Sindh, the sword of disqualification is hanging on PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, but he has fielded his two sons Makhdoom Jameel Zaman and Makdoom Khalil Zaman as well his brother Makhdoom Rafiq Zaman. Mehr family members always find their ways to power corridors. In 2008 elections, Mehr brothers were elected on Muslim League Quaid ticket and this time they have been given tickets by Pakistan Peoples Party in two districts of the province Shikarpur and Ghotki. In Nawabshsh members of Shah family, in Nosheroferoz district Jatois and in Thatta Shirazis are again in the electoral field.
The literacy rate in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, is too low as 10,000 schools remained closed during the whole ternure of past PPP govt and school buildings were used by these very parliamentarians as their animal barns and Otaqs (rest houses). With 70% people living in rural villages where 90% of them being illiterate and farm works employed by Waderas the politically influenced village chiefs, sardars and feudal lords, people have no option but to vote for candidates belonging to landlord family or to be ejected from villages and farmlands. The landlords in Sindh and Punjab maintain theri private armies and patronise crimes of kidnapping for ransom, murders, killing women and men under honor killing, extortion and land grabbing. In such a situation, a poor villager or small town deweller dare not to risk his and his family life by refusing vote to landlords Jakhranis, Khosos in Jaccobabad, Magsis and Chandios in Lakana and Tando Allahyar and Arbabs in Thar. The aim of all this discussion is that there might be no or very slight change in politics of Pakistan as the families who are ruling the country since creation are again tipped to find their ways to parliament.
However, there might be a slight change in big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad. The residents of these cities happen to be more educated than those in the villages. The religious parties have got influence in big cities and they may get some seats. The preformance of past ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Parliament is rated as poor during its 5 year term the only count where the party is doomed to fail in big cities as well in central Punjab which with 57% of population has more than half of parliamentary seats.
In Punjab, past provincial government of Shahbaz Sharif younger brother of Nawaz Sharif has spent much more on the development and welfare of citizens in comparison to PPP govt in Sindh which is accused of compromising interest of 40 million Sindhi speaking people by introducing dual local bodies system one for cities and the other for small towns, shutting eyes on target killings in Karachi where in last year more than 2000 people were made target of it. PPP headed by president Asif Ali Zardari is also accused of selling coastal islands along Karachi to US investors that has angered Sindhi people too much and all the nationalist parties of Sindh have formed 10 party alliance against PPP to fight elections one to one on every seat though the new alliance is headed by Pir Pagaro, the grandson of Pir, who had fought war of independence against English and was arrested and hanged in 1943, four years before the creation of Pakistan.
[Abbas Kassaris a Jounalist in Hyderabad, Pakistan and presently working as bureau chief of daily Messenger Karachi and Lahore Times ( online), a member of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and European Journalism Center. He can be reached at kassar_hyd@yahoo.com;kassarabbas@lycos.com and 92 3453585137]
Hyderabad: Despite applying article 61.62 and 63 of constitution of Pakistan the winning horses in election 2013 so far surfced on political scene belong to same family. It has remained political tradition of both India and Pakistan that the family rules once rules for ever. If in India the families that are elected to parliament always belong to Gandhis, Yadavs, Jaffers, Chowdhrys, Pandeys, Patels, Raos, Kamalnaths, Shaikhs, Tiwarys, Vermas, Shukla, Chatterjis and like, here in Pakistan members of same families are elected whenever polls take place.
Apart from Pakistan Peoples Party and Muslim League (Nawaz) even new parties like Tehrik Insaf of Imran Khan have given tickets to those who were members of past parliament like Shah Mahmood Qureshi (former PPP ) and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi (former ML(N). Tehrik Insaf and religious parties like Jamat Islami, Jamiat Ulema Islam, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan, Brelvis and Deobandis all are constesting elections, but seems they will have have little impression with few of seats they get here and there. Nawaz Sharif family has fielded 8 candidates including himself, his brother Shahbaz Sharif (past CM of Punjab), Begum Marium Nawaz Sharif, Hamza Sharif and Captain Safdar, son in law of Nawaz Shaif. Chowdhrys of Gujerat have also feilded half dozen of their family memers including Chowdhry Shaujat (prime minister in Gen. Mushrraf rule), Pervez Illahi along with his son Munis Illahi, Wajahet Hussain, Major Tahir Sadiq, Anwer Cheema.
The literacy rate in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, is too low as 10,000 schools remained closed during the whole ternure of past PPP govt and school buildings were used by these very parliamentarians as their animal barns and Otaqs (rest houses). With 70% people living in rural villages where 90% of them being illiterate and farm works employed by Waderas the politically influenced village chiefs, sardars and feudal lords, people have no option but to vote for candidates belonging to landlord family or to be ejected from villages and farmlands. The landlords in Sindh and Punjab maintain theri private armies and patronise crimes of kidnapping for ransom, murders, killing women and men under honor killing, extortion and land grabbing. In such a situation, a poor villager or small town deweller dare not to risk his and his family life by refusing vote to landlords Jakhranis, Khosos in Jaccobabad, Magsis and Chandios in Lakana and Tando Allahyar and Arbabs in Thar. The aim of all this discussion is that there might be no or very slight change in politics of Pakistan as the families who are ruling the country since creation are again tipped to find their ways to parliament.
However, there might be a slight change in big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad. The residents of these cities happen to be more educated than those in the villages. The religious parties have got influence in big cities and they may get some seats. The preformance of past ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Parliament is rated as poor during its 5 year term the only count where the party is doomed to fail in big cities as well in central Punjab which with 57% of population has more than half of parliamentary seats.
In Punjab, past provincial government of Shahbaz Sharif younger brother of Nawaz Sharif has spent much more on the development and welfare of citizens in comparison to PPP govt in Sindh which is accused of compromising interest of 40 million Sindhi speaking people by introducing dual local bodies system one for cities and the other for small towns, shutting eyes on target killings in Karachi where in last year more than 2000 people were made target of it. PPP headed by president Asif Ali Zardari is also accused of selling coastal islands along Karachi to US investors that has angered Sindhi people too much and all the nationalist parties of Sindh have formed 10 party alliance against PPP to fight elections one to one on every seat though the new alliance is headed by Pir Pagaro, the grandson of Pir, who had fought war of independence against English and was arrested and hanged in 1943, four years before the creation of Pakistan.
[Abbas Kassaris a Jounalist in Hyderabad, Pakistan and presently working as bureau chief of daily Messenger Karachi and Lahore Times ( online), a member of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and European Journalism Center. He can be reached at kassar_hyd@yahoo.com;kassarabbas@lycos.com and 92 3453585137]