Sindh after Saeen

This is how a good Aztec might have behaved in a ritual of human sacrifice. Saeen Qaim Ali Shah walked to the altar with that peculiar smile on his face that makes us all smile. During the eight years of stewardship of Sindh, he held no personal ambitions, posed no problems to the dynasty and offered his sacrifice when commanded. Can his blood redeem the PPP, lift the curse upon it and give it a new life?

The Bhutto-Zardari dynasty and ‘the party of the people’ is going through a difficult period and their future appears uncertain. The patriarch has finally decided to take a risk by installing a chief minister who is foreign educated, somewhat charismatic and relatively young. The aim appears to be to change optics by making the Sindh government look younger and serious. However, without any change in substance, the new optics may prove even more problematic.

The terms of reference for the job of the CM include taking the blame for decisions made by Zardari and Addi, distributing patronage according to the formulas devised at the Bilawal House and guarding the interests of the dynasty. Saeen was able to go a step further by being funny. He made people smile when they were supposed to be angry. He also worked effectively as a blotting paper by absorbing ink that did not belong to him.

Qaim Ali Shah appeared ridiculous because he was put in such a position and he chose to conform to the demands of the role. Those who know him better remind us that he is a clean politician with an incredible political career and has made enormous sacrifices for democratic struggles. However, this is not how he will be remembered and perhaps this is not how the PPP will be remembered if the comedy goes on.

Under Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP has turned into a party of the socio-economic status quo. Not backed by policy or action, its slogans have become clichés that sound hollow and appear to mock the party, rather than motivating its remaining followers. Sindh’s underclass, its scheduled castes, its landless peasants and its poor have lost their voice, while the province has been carved out into small fiefdoms parcelled out to local party leaders who are invariably large landholders, popularly known as waderos in Sindh. These princelings have become so powerful that it is no longer possible for the party to wrest the control back from them or to govern the province effectively.

While interacting with members of the scheduled castes during a recent visit to Interior Sindh, I came across a unique situation that to me is characteristic of the Addi-Zardari system of governance. The jobs of sanitary workers in Sindh’s municipalities have been gifted to the sifarshi ‘sufaid posh’ clients of the party leaders. As they are not supposed to do the work for which they are employed, Sindh’s cities are sinking in their own muck while the scheduled castes have lost the only job opportunity available to them.

The interior of Sindh has hardly seen any socio-economic development during the two terms of the PPP. Even the villages and cities in the shamelessly neglected southern Punjab appear far more developed than Sindh’s rural areas and urban centres. This is mainly because Sindh has failed to throw up a sizeable middle class and the reasons are not very hard to guess – large landholdings, lack of industrialisation and a pathetic situation of education.

Let us keep aside the debate of land reforms, which is not possible any longer. Economic activity and industrialisation might have produced a large middle class. Interior Sindh was well placed for it because of the availability of cheap labour and proximity to the provincial capital which is the country’s largest industrial hub and the only port city. However, industrialists (and even small entrepreneurs) have been scared away since the Zia era due to the dismal situation of law and order in wide parts of Sindh. The PPP government totally failed to change this situation.

Human development and quality education might have provided another ladder for people to improve their lot. While Sindh’s landholding elite were never interested in educating the masses, they found excellent partners in Sindhi nationalists who have preyed upon educational institutions, playing havoc with education and the future of the grandsons of the Priest King of Mohenjo Daro. As a result, most Sindhi graduates are completely unemployable by any sector other than the government. All indicators show that this situation only got worse under the Phuphocracy in Sindh. Like sanitation, education is about jobs that have to be distributed to the clients of elected leaders. Education has nothing to do with the children of Sindh or the future of Sindh.

Pardon me for not mentioning Karachi here, which is being managed by characters like Jam Khan Shoro and feels completely disenfranchised.

Qaim Ali Shah’s blood cannot help the party because the hybrid Bhutto-Zardari dynasty is itself undergoing a ritual suicide. While handing over Bhutto’s mantle to Bilawal, Abbu and Phupho have done their best to infantilise him. Look at the statements of Zardari, who, according to some politicians known for their animosity to the PPP, holds a PhD in politics. According to him, Bilawal is a child who is yet to come of age and he is being trained by the great strategist himself. The way he is chaperoned by Phupho, it appears that he is being toilet-trained by the great Addi herself. And yet Pakistan must rise to his call. Ever seen a people following an infant?

ZA Bhutto was known for his intolerance to difference of opinion and yet his closest companions were willing to sacrifice their political careers to speak their minds. In today’s PPP, there is hardly anyone left who could tell Phupho that she cannot become Benazir Bhutto in the next five incarnations and a half. No one has the guts to tell Zardari that a political party cannot be run like a family business – unless you are a Sharif and know full well how to run a family business.

If Bilawal cannot take charge of the party and of Sindh, he cannot be a real leader and no one is likely to take him seriously. He has already squandered enough opportunities and the clock is ticking fast. A prince is no prince if cannot wield his dagger like a prince. He will remain an infant if he fails to retire his regents and send them to hajj, the way Akbar sent off his incredible Turkmen general, Bairam Khan. The party cannot be saved if he fails to ease out his Abbu, the way Benazir edged out her mother.

Here is a small but crucial lesson for the young chairperson, taken from a book of anthropology. These lines describe the technique of treacherous feast as practised by an Amazonian tribe: “The ultimate in Yanomamo warfare is treacherous feast. ….one group feigns friendship for another, invites its members to a feast, then falls on them and kills as many as possible.” Bilawal’s test lies in identifying who should be included on the large list of invitees. And he certainly does not need to send a single card to an enemy.

The writer is a social anthropologist and development professional.

Email: zaighamkhan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @zaighamkhan