Land of the fleeting: Political rivalries, friendships run skin deep in Balochistan

Parties in provincial government alliance ally with political foes against each other.

ISLAMABAD:

For a province that is a subject of charged moral indignation on a number of fronts, Balochistan’s local politics can be surprisingly expedient.

Alliances in Pakistan’s largest province in terms of landmass have usually been fleeting and based on short-term gain, and this is once again on display as the province goes to the polls to elect its local body set up today (Saturday).

The provincial government currently consists of three main parties – the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the National Party (NP) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP). However, these parties will be at loggerheads with one another in many areas of Balochistan, having formed alliances with rival groups, which sit in opposition in the provincial assembly.

Zehri-Mengal alliance

Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), the party of the leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Akhtar Mengal, will be allying with one of the members of government coalition PML-N in a six-party political consortium in Khuzdar and Kalat.

And that’s not the extent of the unexpected: BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, the president of Balochistan chapter of the PML-N, are known to have a deep-rooted feud that runs beyond politics and into tribal rivalry.



The feud reached a peak when three close relatives of Zehri, including his son, brother and nephew were killed in a bomb attack near Khuzdar during the campaigning for May’s general elections. Zehri accused Akhtar Mengal, his father Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri of masterminding the bomb attack.

However, for today’s polls, the two parties are part of a six-party election alliance in Khuzdar and Kalat against the NP – which, interestingly enough, is part of the provincial government in partnership with the PML-N. The Balochistan chief minister, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, is a member of the NP.

Other members of this alliance are Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and Jamiat Ulema Islam (Ideology) against the NP. For the May 2013 general elections, JUI-F was actually part of an alliance alongside the NP against BNP-M, which is now its new ally.

The two other members of the six-party alliance in Khuzdar and Kalat are the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and BNP (Awami) – the latter being a historically vocal critic of Akhtar Mengal’s party.

Hazaras-ASWJ part of one alliance

PML-N and BNP-M are also part of another grand election alliance – this time a ten-party political consortium formed against the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), the other member of the provincial government.

Notable among this ‘alliance’ is the presence of two parties representing Shias and Sunnis - the Hazara Democratic Party and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ). The former represents an ethnic group that has suffered bloody attacks over the last few years at the hands of religious obscurantist organisations – particularly in, but not limited to, Quetta.

That’s not where the bizarreness ends: The other prominent parties of the grand alliance are JUI-F, JUI-I, Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

The Pakhtun-dominated northern belt of Balochistan is a contest between PkMAP, JUI-F and JUI-I candidates. However, some candidates of different political parties have entered into seat adjustments against their political rivals, mainly PkMAP.

Justifications

Vice-President BNP-M Sajid Tareen says that his party’s alliance with the ruling PML- N should be considered a marriage of convenience. “We have formed alliance on district level only for the local bodies’ elections,” he said, adding “otherwise our party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal will continue to play his role as an opposition leader in the Balochistan Assembly.

We have accepted the election alliance with our past political rivals for the establishment of democracy at the grass root level.”

The unexpected alliance has annoyed the leadership of the Dr Malik-led NP. Mir Khalid Lango, a member of provincial assembly (MPA) of NP from Kalat and an adviser to the Balochistan chief minister on finance, called the alliance “unholy” and aimed only to harm the NP candidates.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2013.