Clan politics

Breaking clan lines can happen again and all parties need to consider why this is not proving to be the case.

Despite the recent warning by the Election Commission of Pakistan that any candidate campaigning on the basis of caste, ethnicity, religion or sect could face disqualification, no one appears to have been much moved by these words. Indeed, it is becoming clear that across the country, clan is to play a vital role in the casting of votes and the victors that emerge from the process. All the political parties seem to be fairly well aware of this as are the candidates campaigning on the basis of their particular affiliations. To take an example for the two seats from Mansehra, NA20 and NA21, the clan factor seems almost certain to play the key role in an essentially conservative area, where people vote as per preset patterns. Complexities in party ticket allocations with brothers in some cases, contesting polls from neighbouring seats but for different parties add to the complications.

The Swati, Tanoli, Syed and Gujjar clans are powerful here. But even in urban areas, biradari or clan seems to matter a lot. Ticket allocations have been made on the basis of this factor even by parties such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf which claim they seek change.

So, why does this change not come? Why do people revert to clan loyalty, in some cases, above all else? The fault, it would appear, lies with the parties. It seems none of them have offered sufficient ground for people to vote across clan lines and instead opt for the agenda they offer. This can indeed happen. It happened in our country in 1970 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, with its slogan of roti, kapra aur makaan, altered voting patterns drastically by suggesting to the poor that they could have a real say in bringing change in their favour. What happened afterwards is a different debate.

But the fact is clan lines were broken then, this can happen again and all parties contesting the polls need to consider why this is not proving to be the case as the campaign continues along the same mundane lines as in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2013.