A curious case of the devotee vote in Sindh's politics

With blind faith from followers, spiritual leaders and Syed families have maintained their rule over the years

KARACHI: Once again, the pir factor is likely to dominate the upcoming general elections, winning a major chunk of votes in different constituencies across Sindh. With supporters blindly placing their faith in certain leaders, spiritual leaders and the Syed families have managed to maintain and perpetuate their influence in many constituencies over the years.

Followers of the Ghousia Jamaat, who are also known as 'Multani Faqirs', are led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The Hur Jamaat is led by Pir Pagara and the Sarwari Jamaat by the Makhdooms of Hala. The pirs of Bharchundi Sharif in Ghotki district and Ranipur in Khairpur Mir are among other spiritual leaders who have a large following across Sindh. All these groups are either contesting the polls or have fielded their representatives.



"In every election, we witness a tough contest between only two pir families - one belongs to the Hur Jamaat and the other is affiliated with the shrine of Ranipur," said Rizwan Mangi, a local journalist.

Referring to the National Assembly seat NA-209 in Khipro where Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi, Pir Pagara's brother, is contesting against Pir Fazal Shah of Ranipur, Mangi said, "At this moment, no one else can win this seat apart from these two pirs. Let's see who wins and loses the seat on July 25."

Pir Syed Rashid Shah Rashdi, son of Pir Pagara, is contesting from PS-32 in Pir Jo Goth against Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Nawab Wasan and Pir Syed Ismail Rashdi is contesting from PS-31 in Ghambat against PPP's Naeem Kharal, said Mangi.

Similarly, the Pir Pargara-led Hur Jamaat has fielded their candidates in its stronghold, Sanghar. Khishan Chand Parwani, Khuda Bux Rajar and Maahi Khan Wasan are among the candidates of Hur Jamaat contesting the polls from the platform of GDA. They will be facing tough competition from PPP's Shazia Marri, Naveed Dero and Roshan Junejo in the district. "The situation in Sanghar is different than the previous years where devotees used to cast their vote to the nominees of their spiritual party. The PPP has now developed the area by constructing roads and providing potable water, so a surprise may be in store this election," said Zulfikar Kunbhar, a journalist who belongs to the area.

Pir politics also dominates Tharparakar and Umerkot districts where PTI's candidate Qureshi is contesting the polls not with the support of his party, but his personal influence from being the pir of Ghousia Jamaat.



In the last general election, Qureshi, who has a great following in the area, had contested the election from two seats, NA-230 Tharparkar and NA-228 Umerkot. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan's records, there was tough competition between the PPP's Pir Noor Muhammad Shah Jeelani and Qureshi in NA-230 where the former secured 61,903 votes while Qureshi secured 59,852 votes. In the second constituency, NA-228, which falls in Umerkot district, PPP's candidate Nawaz Yousaf Talpur secured 99,700 votes against Qureshi who bagged 86,134 votes.

In this election, the PPP has fielded the same candidates against Qureshi who also has the support of GDA.  In Tharparkar, former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim also has significant influence and supports Qureshi against PPP.  According to independent analysts, Qureshi can win the Tharparakar seat, NA-221, and will face strong competition on the NA-220 seat in Umerkot.

The Makhdooms of Hala, who are spiritual leaders of the Sarwari Jamaat, not only exercise great influence in Hala in Matiari district where they have always won the general and local bodies elections, but also other districts of Sindh. After resolving the differences between the PPP and Makhdoom family where the Makhdooms had become disgruntled with the party leadership and had decided to quit, the party finally allotted three tickets to the family. Makhdoom Jameelul Zaman, former provincial minister for revenue who is now a spiritual leader of the Sarwari Jamaat, is contesting from NA-223 and his other family members, Makhdoom Mehboobul Rehman and Makhdoom Dr Rafiqueul Zaman are contesting from PS-58 and PS-59 respectively against GDA candidates.

Another influential seat of pirs is Dargah-e-Aliya Bharchundi Sharif in Ghotki district where Faqir Abdul Haq aka Mian Mitho, who is infamous for forced conversion of young Hindu girls, has also won a seat. Earlier, he was affiliated with the PPP, but was expelled from the party over forced conversion incidents. Later, he joined PTI, but on resistance from within the party, Imran Khan showed him the door.

Mian Mitho had submitted nomination forms for NA-204 in Ghotki as a GDA candidate. This irked Sindhi writers, civil society members and rights activists who launched a campaign against GDA's decision to award a ticket to him. Looking at the vigorous campaign, GDA finally parted ways with Mian Mitho and withdrew the ticket. He is now contesting as independent candidate against PPP's Khalid Lund.



According to independent analysts, Mian Mitho not only has the support of his devotees, but also from large number of Hur Jamaat followers and from the Mahar family of Khangarh who have great influence in the area. Different tribes, such as Shar, Leghari and Bozdar also support Mian Mitho, who can give a tough time to the PPP.

Syed Ghulam Shah Jilani who is now caretaker of the Gaji Shah Shrine in Dadu district also has a large following in the area. He has been a winning candidate, but has hardly spoken a single word in his two consecutive tenures in the Sindh Assembly. The PPP has once again given him a ticket to contest the polls from PS-85 in Dadu.