Patronising gang war, lack of development works bring doom for PPP in Lyari

KARACHI: "Dal roti khaenge Bhutto ko laenge" was once a popular slogan in Lyari, considered to be an invincible fort of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the city where scores of its 'jiyalas' rendered their lives for the party.

PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his wife Nusrat Bhutto, their daughter Benazir Bhutto and Benazir's husband Asif Ali Zardari, all have contested elections from Lyari in Karachi and won every time with a thumping majority.

Until 2018 elections, whenever the PPP entered into electoral fray from Lyari, even when its candidates were Nabeel Gabol or Shahjahan Baloch, none could defeat it.

It came as a surprise to many when PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari came third in the electoral race in NA-246 in Lyari. However, for many Lyari residents, Bilawal's defeat was not a surprise. When The Express Tribune tried to inquire sentiments of Lyari people, it found they had various grievances against the PPP that made them vote against Benazir's son in a large number, leading to his defeat.

According to the unofficial result of NA-246, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Shakoor Shad clinched the seat while the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) candidate was a runner up. The PPP also lost the two provincial seats in the Lyari area - of which PS-107 went to TLP's Mohammad Younus Soomro and PS-108 was clinched by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's Abdul Rasheed.



A multitude of grievances

"Lyari had been volatile in the past. It was completely left at the mercy of warlords and gangsters. The gang war left scores of innocent people dead. But no one from the PPP took it seriously. Instead of taking action against gangsters, the PPP gave tickets to those nominated by warlords. In this situation, how one can vote for them," said Salman Mandhro, a social activist in the area.

It is not a myth that leaders affiliated with the PPP patronised Uzair Baloch-led gang in Lyari. According to independent observers, Uzair was given a free hand by the PPP in Lyari who wreaked terror on the local population. Many ethnic communities such as Kutchis, Memons, and Mianwalis, specifically bore the brunt of the gang war.

Ahmed Hingoro lives in Kutchi Muhalla in Lyari and is an activist. He believes that discrimination faced by various ethnic groups at the hands of the PPP forced voters to withdraw their support to the PPP.

"All the development  work was carried out in Kalakot and its adjoining areas where Uzair Baloch lived. No one knows where billions of rupees of Lyari package went.  Many times, people from Kutchi community approached the party leadership, protested in front of Bilawal House against atrocities of gangsters which included cases of gang rape, but no one listened to them," Ahmed said.

The activist explained that Lyari was predominantly inhabited by Baloch and Kutchi communities. "During the tenures of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benzair, Kutchi community would have equal representation in party, assembly and even local bodies. Abdul Khaliq Juma, Ahmed Ali Soomro, Ghani Soomro, Ali Mohammad Hingoro were among others who represented Kutchis," he said, adding that the party later started awarding election tickets to gang war representatives.



"How can people vote for them," Ahmed said, adding that Shah Jahan Baloch, Javed Nagori and Sania Naz, the PPP candidates for the Lyari's NA and provincial assembly seats in 2013, were nominated by Uzair himself.

Believing that the people of Lyari would continue to support it unconditionally, the PPP continued with the same trend. Though the party fielded Bilawal for the NA seat, its candidates for provincial seats seemed not to enjoy good reputation in the locals' eyes.

"Everyone in Lyari knows the reputation of Javed Nagori and Yousaf Baloch who contested from provincial assembly seats. I wonder why PPP did not give tickets to reputable and well educated people. I think, the bad choice in awarding the party tickets to unpopular men proved lethal for Bilawal too," Ahmed commented.

During The Express Tribune's visit to various areas of Lyari, including Ali Mohammad Muhalla, Khada Memon Society, Agra Taj Colony, Bihar Colony, Old Kalri, Bakra Piri, Truck Adda, Niazi Chowk and Hingora Muhalla, residents complained that no development work was initiated in the area in the last ten years of the PPP. Bumpy streets, heaps of garbage, overflowing gutters and complaints of water shortage everywhere were evidence of the lack of development work in Lyari.

"Our women fetch potable water by travelling a distance of half a kilometer," said Saadia Baloch, resident of Ali Mohammad Muhalla. She added that young children go to mosques and hotels to get water for daily use.  "We spent our lives for PPP, but they have not given us water to drink," she complained. Saadia alleged that whenever Aseefa and Bilawal visited Lyari, they only went to specific areas. "No one took them to us to see our plight," she lamented.

Saadia also verified Uzair's link with the PPP. "Uzair Baloch got compensation for his gangsters who were killed in police encounters," she alleged, decrying that the PPP never thought of compensating the families who lost their innocent sons when they were caught in gangsters' wars.

Residents were of the opinion that since the PPP leadership had no interaction with locals and it also did not deliver in Lyari, people changed their sympathies and supported the PTI and religious parties in the elections.

"Bilawal during his entire countrywide visit did not face such a hostile response anywhere which he faced in Lyari when he launched the election campaign in the first week of June," remarked Rafique Baloch who runs a non-governmental organisation in the area.



"He is Benazir Bhutto's son who once used to be greeted with rose petals. This time, people pelted stones at his vehicle. He should have realised why this happened. It was the first reaction to PPP's injustice, nepotism and bad governance in the area," Rafique said, adding that Bilawal's defeat might by unbelievable for outsiders but people of Lyari understood it well.

Bilawal secured only 39,325 votes against PTI's winner who was polled 52,750 votes. The second position went to the TLP candidate, Ahmed, who bagged 42,345 votes. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's Saleem Zia secured 19,077 votes in NA-246.

 

PPP response

For their part, PPP leaders said a conspiracy was hatched to defeat Bilawal in Lyari. "Our election agents were thrown out from polling stations," PPP leader Sherry Rehman and Mian Raza Rabbani said in a joint press conference in Karachi.

"We have also written to the Election Commission. They must take action now," the spokesperson for Bilawal House said, rebutting reports that PPP's popularity was now a history in Lyari.

Bilawal also addressed a press conference in Lyari in which he rejected the results of NA-246. He called people of Lyari were laadlas (beloved) of the PPP and announced that the party would continue to serve Lyari irrespective of the results.