Abdul Hakeem Baloch — saving grace for federal ruling coalition in recent by-polls

Even though Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Abdul Hakeem Baloch from Karachi has once been part of the federal cabinet, many in the country may not remember him for that. His recent claim to fame may last longer in the memories of the general public than the fact that he once served as a minister of state as he is the only candidate of the ruling coalition parties who managed to defeat Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan in the recent by-elections, in which Imran contested from a total of seven National Assembly constituencies.

It was NA-237 District Malir constituency where Imran faced his only defeat in the by-elections at the hands of Baloch, who provided a saving grace to the coalition parties in the federal government.

Baloch’s victory signified that the entire country was not with Khan. The Pakistan Peoples Party has for a week been bragging about the defeat of Khan in Malir. Even Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held a public meeting in Malir to celebrate Baloch’s victory.

Baloch is a veteran politician of Malir who has won elections from the area several times. In the 2018 general elections, however, he was defeated by the PTI’s Jamil Ahmed Khan who secured just over 1,400 votes more than him. Jamil polled 33,522 votes while Baloch 32,054 votes when the turnout in the constituency was calculated to be 42.23 per cent.

As Jamil was one of those PTI MNAs whose resignations were accepted, the by-election in NA-237 was held on October 16. Baloch became a major winner in the by-poll as not only he defeated Imran but also got more votes than what he had polled in the general elections despite the fact that the turnout this time was 20.33 per cent.

In the by-poll, Baloch secured 32,567 votes, defeating Imran by a margin of 10,074 votes as the PTI chairman polled 22,493 votes. The veteran politician has not always remained with the PPP. It has been reported that before the 2018 elections, PTI leaders made several attempts to convince him and his colleagues to join their ranks but he declined the offer and chose not to leave the PPP.

The MNA is a permanent resident of Dur Muhammad Goth Dersano Channa, Malir. In the 2013 general elections, he was elected an MNA from Malir, which was then NA-258 constituency, on the ticket of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, defeating Raja Abdul Razzaq of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and local tribal chieftain Jam Abdul Karim, who is currently a PPP MNA elected from another constituency of District Malir.

One of his colleagues, Haji Shafi Jamot, also won the PS-129 seat in the 2013 polls, but another associate, Saleem Baloch Kalmati, lost with a low margin in PS-130. In the 2013 general elections, NA-258 was the only National Assembly seat that the PML-N had secured from Sindh. Baloch was also included as a minister of state for communication in the cabinet of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

However, he soon felt that he was a toothless minister. His differences with the PML-N resulted in him leaving the party and resigning from the NA seat in 2016. He then contested the by-election as a candidate of the PPP and retained his seat.

Before joining the PML-N in 2013, Baloch was a key leader of the PPP in Karachi and served as a provincial minister and Karachi District Council chairman. However, in the 2002 general elections, he had developed differences over the allotment of tickets and formed a Malir-based electoral alliance against the PPP.

In that election, Baloch could not win the NA-258 seat, bagging more than 27,000 votes against PPP candidate Sher Muhammad Baloch, who secured 38,225 votes. In the 2008 polls, he contested on the PPP ticket for the provincial assembly seat PS-126, Gadap Town, but lost to Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Faisal Subzwari.

He is also one of the founding members of the Karachi Indigenous Rights Movement, a socio-political alliance, for safeguarding the rights of rural areas of the city, especially Malir.