Up close and political with Dr Arbab Rahim

PML chief says he does respect women, just not those who leave the house without a hijab.

KARACHI:

Former Sindh chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has learnt that words cannot be taken back. The comments he made in response to a question regarding activist Hajani Lanjo, the first woman in the history of Thar to contest against him, continue to haunt him.

On April 12, he stood before journalists in Mithi, Tharparkar, and said: “Women are weak and short-tempered. How can a woman be a good leader if she is afraid of a lizard? Pakistan is not a Western country. Such independence given to women will misguide them.”

Instantly, the damage was done. Human rights and women rights organisations, including the Women’s Action Forum and the Aurat Foundation, protested against Arbab. There have been political ramifications as well. The Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) election cell has written a letter to the election commission complaining that Dr Rahim has used derogatory language against women, and therefore action should be taken against him under the code of conduct of the election commission.

In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Dr Rahim attempts to justify his words. “I [do] respect women,” he says, weighing his words. “However, our religion teaches us to wear [certain] clothes. I dislike those [women] who go out of their homes without the hijab.”

Then the conversation shifts to more familiar ground: politics. He refers to an incident in 2008, when a PPP worker hurled a shoe at him, and says that PPP leaders are now looking to tender an apology and negotiate seat adjustments in the Tharparkar district.

“I am a politician and I want to deal with all issues politically,” he exclaims. “I conveyed a message to the PPP leadership, through Khursheed Shah, saying that we are ready to negotiate. However, seat adjustment should not just be confined to Thar.”

He says his party is contesting election on 17 MNA and 41 MPA seats in Sindh, and that he is open to negotiations with all parties.

“The PPP should support us in the constituencies where we have majority votes and, in turn, we will help them in their areas. There is nothing else we can do for them,” he says, adding that he will not give them a seat in areas where his party dominates.

“The PPP has looted and plundered Sindh during its five-year tenure. The leaders have started approaching influential people because the masses have banned the entry of their candidates in many areas. Therefore, they are now seeking the help of others,” he says.

Dr Rahim, and candidates backed by him, won two national and four provincial assembly seats in Tharparkar in the 2002 and 2008 polls. “I did not follow anyone, but Musharraf and the Chaudhry brothers approached me because I had a solid vote bank. Now, the PPP is doing the same,” he remarks. While he was previously affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), he is now the chief of his own political party, the Peoples Muslim League.

In the same vein, he says he will not join the Pir Pagara led ten-party alliance, but will contest the elections alone.

In response to a question about former president Pervez Musharraf, he says he should not have returned.

“I advised Musharraf not to come back, but he didn’t listen. Now, I can only pray for him,” he says quietly.

When asked about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who has filed papers to contest NA 230 (Tharparkar) and NA 228 (Umerkot) as an independent candidate, Dr Rahim says his party would be willing to support Qureshi in Umerkot.

“Our party has nominated me and another candidate, Ghulam Hyder Samejo, to contest for the national assembly seat in Tharparkar, but we can support Qureshi for the Umerkot seat if he approaches us,” he reveals. “However, although he has visited Tharparkar a couple of times, he has yet to contact me.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2013.