Politics in upper Sindh: Amid senate seat offer rumours, the Mahars hold off on joining PPP

After Ashura, Khusheed Shah and Agha Siraj Durrani scheduled to meet the sardar.

SUKKUR: It’s a game of numbers but for now, the Pakistan Peoples Party is extremely interested in two men - Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar and Ali Mohammad Mahar in upper Sindh. But the outcome will only become clear after Ashura when they will meet either Federal Minister Khursheed Shah in Sukkur or Agha Siraj Durrani in Shikarpur.

Durrani has already visited Khangarh in Ghotki and invited them to join the PPP. But nothing conclusive emerged and in fact, the Mahars hosted a dinner in honour of ex-PPP man Shah Mehmood Qureshi on November 27. After this there was more campaigning as Durrani took the brothers to Islamabad, where they met President Asif Ali Zardari. According to sources, he invited them to join the party with the prize of a seat in the senate.

Sources claimed that during their meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, the Mahar brothers accepted one seat in the senate for Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar but had further demanded one Sindh Assembly seat in Ghotki with seat adjustments in other districts, including Sukkur, Shikarpur, Larkana and Kashmore. They also asked for more time so they could discuss these matters with other members of the Mahar clan.

They would naturally involve Ghous Bux Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and other bigwigs from the area. But according to a member of the Mahar clan, who did not want to be named, the brothers were most likely to stay independent. The PPP is strong in this area with 50% of the seats. In Ghotki, there are four National Assembly and four Sindh Assembly seats. Out of the four NA seats, one was won by the PPP’s Mian Abdul Haq of Bharchoondi Sharif and the other is held by Ali Mohammad Mahar. The other two are reserved for minorities - one is held by Dr Darshan Lal of the PML-N and the other by Manohar Lal of the MQM.

Three out of the four Sindh Assembly seats are held by PPP candidates (Jam Mehtab Dahar, Jam Ikramullah Dharejo and Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi) while the fourth seat is held by Sardar Raheem Bux Bozdar of the PML-F. Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar’s younger brother Ali Nawaz alias Raja Mahar had contested the general elections in 2008 on PS-6 Ghotki but lost to the PPP’s Jam Ikramullah Dharejo.

Political history of the Mahars

The Mahars of Ghotki joined the PPP in 1971 and remained with it till former General Zia-ul Haq toppled the Bhutto government six years later. From 1977 onwards, they supported the dictator. In 1988, the PPP once again came into power, but the Mahars stayed away from the party and threw in their lot with the PML-N in 1991.

But then, two years later, they rejoined the PPP in 1993 and remained with the party till 1999. In 1998, when Benazir Bhutto staged a mammoth sit-in at Kamoon Shaheed against the Kalabagh dam, the Mahar brothers actively supported her.

In October 1999, when former dictator Pervez Musharraf took over from Nawaz Sharif, the Mahar brothers once again said goodbye to the PPP. The Mahars will be interested in weighing the fortunes of the PPP before they make a decision. Another possibility is for them to rejoin the party and stay with it as long as it stays in power.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2011.