Parting ways: New party set to emerge on Sindh’s political landscape

It has been formed by a breakaway faction of the PkSF.

KARACHI: It seems that a new player is set to emerge on Sindh’s political horizon. A faction of the Pakhtun Student Federation (PkSF), which is a sister organisation of the Awami National Party (ANP), has broken away from the party and plans to form a new group, which would be the “true representative” of Pakhtuns in Sindh.

The man behind the move is Tariq Tareen, who claims to be PkSF’s central general secretary. He has started ringing up the party’s disgruntled leaders and supporters in Sindh, hoping to lure them into the new group. While talking to The Express Tribune, Tareen said that he and some of his colleagues aren’t on the same page with the ANP’s current leadership.

“In Sindh, the party is a one-man show,” Tareen said on Friday. He alleged ANP’s Sindh chief, Senator Shahi Syed, was exploiting the party’s members as well as those of the PkSF. “Only poor activists are targeted in every attack.”



He also alleged the ANP of using law enforcement agencies to muffle the voices which oppose the party’s current leadership. “The police and Rangers have started a crackdown against our supporters in all the five districts of Karachi,” said Tareen. “Over a dozen of them have been arrested on false charges and some are being harassed by law enforcers.” He claimed that PkSF’s members were under attack from other quarters as well - last week grenades were lobbed at some of its members in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, but they survived the attack.

Tareen claimed that the PkSF used to hold annual elections at the provincial level to choose its president and cabinet - a practice which has been abandoned for the past three years. Instead, Tareen alleged, the PkSF’s current leadership was handpicked by the powers inside the Mardan House.



Tareen and his associates are also trying to snag the support of the leaders of the Pakhtun Action Committee - a grand alliance of the Pashtu-speaking community - as well as tribal elders in Karachi.

The other side

Bashir Jan, the general secretary of ANP’s Sindh division, said that he had no idea what Tareen was up to. “He has never been a part of the ANP. Tareen was PkSF’s provincial president but he completed his term and has been replaced.” Jan is also the chairperson of a committee formed by ANP’s Sindh division to look into matters related to the PkSF and resolve election issues. “I’m the head of the committee, but it has no information about Tariq Tareen.”

PkSF’s current president, Bashir Sherpao, refuted Tareen’s allegations. He said that ANP has always helped PkSF members and supporters when needed. “Tareen was a former president of PkSF but now he does not hold any position in the group. These are his personal views. PkSF has always been associated with the ANP and will continue to follow its leaders.”

He added that Shahi Syed is an honorable leader nobody in the PkSF would want to make allegations against him. “Shahi Syed and Bashir Jan have always stood up for the rights of Pakhtun students.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2013.