A political dynasty’s quiet exit

The ebb and flow of political parties in Pakistan have taken various forms over the years, and the recent disappearance of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) from the political stage adds another chapter to this narrative.

Founded by Mir Murtaza Bhutto, son of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the party seems conspicuously absent from the upcoming general elections. With general elections around the corner and political parties and their candidates on a campaign trail, the PPP-SB seems nowhere in the race.

Its leader, Ghinwa Bhutto, the wife of the late Mir Murtaza Bhutto, has left the country and lives abroad. Murtaza Bhutto’s two children, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Junior and Fatima Bhutto, have distanced themselves from politics.

The PPP-SB’s lack of interest in the electoral process is evident from the nomination of candidates. It is rare to see any candidates from the party participating in the polls.

The party, whose leaders once called themselves “real” Bhutto and tagged their party as the original PPP and true heirs of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has not only failed to nominate any candidates in the general elections. Moreover, it has failed to field candidates in their own home constituency of Larkana.

Zulfikar Junior, a textile artist while speaking to the media, has said that he had no interest in politics from the beginning. “I have seen politics up close from childhood. I have also seen its impact on my family, losing my grandfather, father, uncle and aunt. That is why I am distancing myself from it, keeping all focus within arts and culture and trying to create awareness in whatever way I can,” he said.

Calling himself a part-time curator and wildlife advocate, Bhutto Junior had said earlier: “There is no need to say Jeay Bhutto, we should convert the slogan into Jeay Awam.”

Similarly, Fatima Bhutto has also maintained a distance from politics and has concentrated on writing books. The PPP-SB was founded by Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan in 1993 after spending many years in exile abroad. Soon after, Murtaza’s assassination in 1996, the party was taken over by his Lebanon-origin wife Ghinwa Bhutto.

But it could not succeed in making inroads in parliament or in the provincial assemblies. Now, Ghinwa Bhutto lives abroad, her son Zulfikar Junior and stepdaughter Fatima Bhutto are not interested in politics, so the political affairs of the party are nowhere to be seen.

Since the inception of the party, only one, Mir Murtaza, could win a provincial assembly seat in 1993 from his hometown Larkana, securing 22,837 votes against the PPP candidate. His mother Nusrat Bhutto had campaigned for him in Larkana against late Benazir Bhutto’s nominated candidates.

After taking over the party, Ghinwa Bhutto contested the election against PPP’s Ayaz Soomro, Shahid Bhutto and others, but she faced a crippling defeat.

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According to the 2008 general election results, Ghinwa contested for a National Assembly seat, then NA-204-Old Larkana, against PPP’s Shahid Bhutto and secured 12,271 votes against the winning candidate’s 81,439 votes.

In the 2013 elections, she contested from the same constituency against PPP’s Ayaz Soomro, who defeated her bagging 50,118 votes.

Ghinwa could only manage 4,936 votes. She also contested from NA-257 Karachi and got only 1,224 votes against Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Sajid Ahmed.

During the 2018 general elections, PPP-SB fielded its senior leader Inayat Umrani against Bilawal Bhutto but got only 1,649 votes. Bilawal won the election after getting 84,538 votes. Rashid Mehmood Soomro of the Jamiat Uelma-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI) was the runner-up with 50,910 votes.

On the death anniversary of Mir Murtaza last year, neither the party held its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting nor did Ghinwa Bhutto attend it. For the last three years, almost all activities of the party have been at a standstill.

“We are not taking part in any political activity nowadays. Almost all our party offices are closed with no one to lead the party nowadays in Pakistan,” a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

“The party’s organisational structure is on the verge of collapse with many political positions lying vacant too.”

According to Prof Aijaz Qureshi, senior analyst and writer, the political party or any organisation will not be sustained if it revolves around a personality. “Murtaza Bhutto was the only man behind his party. After his death, the party hit a dead-end,” he said.

He added that there was no strong political party organism in Sindh that met the criteria of politics in the true sense.

“Mostly, politics orbits around feudal lords and dynasties. There is no concept of grassroots-level politics. This is the reason the PPP-SB and other parties like it are in shambles over time,” he said.

But Aijaz Mangi, Additional General Secretary of the PPP-SB refuted claims that the party was missing from the political landscape. “We are in the process of re-organising the party with ideological goals and nominated the candidates in various areas of Sindh,” he said.

“We don’t believe in power politics or hold public meetings and gain media publicity. Our agenda is political education of the people for which we have started grassroots level initiatives.”

Talking about the absence of Ghinwa Bhutto, the PPP-SB chairperson, he said, “She has been out of the country for the last two years and lives in Lebanon. Her mother passed away, so she is supposed to look after and resolve the family issues over there,” he said, adding that Ghinwa Bhutto will come back soon to lead the party.