Will the real Muslim League please stand up?

Everyone claims that their faction of the Muslim League is the real one.

KARACHI:

There are over 250 registered political parties registered today, and 21 of these are various factions of the Muslim League, each of whom claims to be the true heir of Jinnah’s Muslim League. 

“All other factions of the League are just mere namesakes,” says Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Siddiqul Farooq. “They are drawing room politicians and their credibility is shrinking with the passage of time. PML-N is the only true, popular party that represents the ideology of Jinnah.”

According to Farooq, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), led by the Chaudhry brothers, is on its way to ruin, while Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) is not even a real political party.

“Somehow, I can [imagine] voting for Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), led by Pir Pagara. The rest have little interest in mass politics,” he says. “I can also recognise the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, as mainstream political parties. The others are just pressure groups.

Unsurprisingly, leaders of other League factions dispute Farooq’s viewpoint.

“The founder of Pakistan created this country and it is our party that will save it,” says APML spokesperson, Dr Amjad. “Since the birth of the country, there has been a rift between the Muslim League factions. But our party will try to unite all the leagues for the betterment of the nation.”

Similarly, PML-Q Sindh chapter president, Haleem Adil Shaikh, stresses that it’s his party that follows Jinnah’s ideology best.

“Nawaz’s League is an ethnic party based in Punjab, which is why it only got votes in that province. Our people, on the other hand, gave us the mandate in all four provinces. This proves we are representatives of Jinnah’s principles,” he says.

When asked about why his party supported Musharraf, an army general who subverted the Constitution and imposed emergency, which goes against Jinnah’s principles, he says, “There’s no doubt that we once supported him. However, when we realized that he is damaging our institutions, denting democracy, we abandoned him.”

Some other factions of the leagues registered with the commission include Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Muslim League (Qasim) Pakistan Muslim League (Qayyum Group), Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League (Z), Pakistan Fatima Jinnah Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League (Sher-e-Bangal), Awami Muslim League Pakistan, Pakistan National Muslim League, All Pakistan Muslim League Muhammad, Pakistan Muslim League (Muttahida), Peoples Muslim League Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League Council, Pakistan Muslim League Democratic, Muttahida Muslim League, Pakistan Muslim League (Safdar), Pakistan Muslim League Humkhiyal (Like Minded), Pakistan Muslim League (J), Pakistan Muslim League (Nazaryati) and Pakistan Muslim League (Zehri Group).

Perhaps one of the reasons for this proliferation of Leagues, apart from the desire to cash in on a well-known name, is that it’s actually very easy to register a party.  “We only need a copy of the party’s constitution, a bank statement and the names of office bearer,” says ECP director Najeeb Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2013.