How to kill a political party

Once a mighty political force in Sindh, the party barely enjoys any street power anymore

KARACHI: Politics is a dirty business. Political dynasties, no matter how powerful they are at one point, must reach their logical conclusion. They fizzle out - a slow, painfully obvious death - palpable to most independent observers but their patrons who aren’t willing to let go until the very end.

Such is the tale of the once popular Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) - an uber-nationalist movement that once attracted thousands to its rallies and enjoyed an almost cult-like following. Today, the party is only active in the minds of its leaders, who fail to see its wilting state of affairs.

Perhaps the biggest blow to JSQM was dealt by the death of its charismatic leader, Bashir Qureshi, in 2012. His brother, Maqsood Qureshi, was murdered soon after. The party is now being run by Bashir’s son, Sanan Qureshi, who is content with living a quiet life on the outskirts of Karachi.

Over the years, many senior leaders and party workers have quit, accusing the new leadership of having ‘hijacked’ the party and leaving no room for the diehard workers who led the movement through critical times.



“For the past two years, not only political, but organisational activities have come to standstill. The issues are the same, but our party’s role in leading from the front has diminished,” lamented Dr Niaz Kalani, a former senior vice-chairman of JSQM.  Apart from its demand for an independent “Sindhudesh”, the party strove for the rights of people by staging demonstrations, observing hunger strikes and organising rallies, sit-ins and long marches on issues such as water crises, influx of illegal immigrants and construction of large dams.

Origins

The nationalist party was formed by prominent Sindhi politician Ghulam Murtaza Syed - popularly known as GM Syed. The aim was to mobilise and empower people through the platform of “Jeay Sindh Tehreek”, a self-proclaimed ‘non-violent movement’.

After Syed’s death in 1995, several nationalist outfits came together to merge under umbrella of JSQM, with Abdul Wahid Arisar as its chairperson and Bashir Qureshi as the joint secretary. Some years later when he became chief, Qureshi struggled to interact with the masses at the grass roots level. Even so, his death has left a big vacuum in Sindhi nationalist politics and the incumbent party leadership seems to have lost interest in politics.

Today, the party organises no event, except to mark the birth and death anniversary of its founder, GM Syed. According to party sources, who spoke to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity, all senior positions except the chairperson’s are lying vacant. The secretary-general, joint secretary and treasurer have all resigned one after the other, but the party has conducted no election to fill these posts from the past 17 months.

Power struggle

According to Dr Kalani, who was a close aide of Bashir Qureshi, the situation became precarious when some party leaders nominated Sanan to head the party. “The party is not private property and can’t be given to someone in inheritance. They have created such a situation that has forced us to quit the party,” he said, adding that the party’s incumbent leadership has imposed a ban on the activities of leaders who dare speak against this autocratic approach. “I work as a worker and will not leave the party like others who have now joined PPP and other political forces,” he remarked.

Counter-allegations

In his defence, Sanan said there were pressures on the party as well as its leaders and workers, which compelled them to live a quiet life. “My father was killed because of the nationalist movement for the rights of people living in this land. Two years on, my uncle was burnt to death. One can’t imagine the pressure on us,” he said. Sanan refused, however, to identify those exerting the pressure.

With regards to accusations of hijacking the party, Sanan said, “The people leveling these allegations have lost party elections. This is the reason for their criticism against us.” He added that they would soon convene a meeting of the party’s national congress to conduct elections and revive the party.  “Historically, we have witnessed the downfall of political movements in the world. We are waiting for the right time and hope to carry on the legacy of GM Syed,” he said.

Conspiracy afoot?

Bashir Qureshi died in April 2012 in Nawabshah. Soon after his death, Qureshi’s family and the party alleged he was poisoned to death and started a mass movement to initiate an inquiry into the murder. Initially, the medical examiners’ report endorsed the party version. But later, a UK laboratory, where Qureshi’s viscera were sent, determined the cause of death as a ‘heart attack’.

JSQM’s leadership rejected even the UK-based laboratory’s report. “It was a fabricated report,” claimed Sanan Qureshi. “We got in touch with British technicians where the government said it had sent the report, but there was no record by the name of Qureshi there,” he alleged.



Case status

The case of Bashir Qureshi’s murder is still pending in the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Hyderabad bench, where no one pursues it. Sattar Zangejo, a civil society activist who was once affiliated with JSQM, said that no one paid any heed to the political organisation of the party, which now revolved around one person. “The death of Bashir Qureshi marked the start of the downward spiral for the party. If there was real political organisation in the party, it would have survived with the new leadership,” he said.

Zangejo, who is witness to major political activities of the party, referred to the sit-in jointly organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party and other nationalist parties in 1998 against the construction of Kalabagh Dam. “The large number of JSQM workers marked by the party’s red flags in the event surprised even Benazir Bhutto.”

He said that the party used to organise rallies, demonstrations and observe hunger strikes at the district and taluka level to mount pressure on the government and its institutions to resolve issues faced by the people of Sindh. “The internal conflict and groups within the party has damaged it beyond repair, while the leadership lives in delusion,” he lamented.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2018.