Tinkering with Sindh

There is this long-running political extravaganza that features the spirited ensembles of the PTI and the PML-N. Its tempo rises and falls. And the nation’s attention, thanks to the trivial pursuits of our news channels, has again been diverted to a fresh battle of references and the impending agitation of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri – a sort of action replay.

But the game to watch in our political arena is being played in Sindh. With the induction of Syed Murad Ali Shah as the chief minister last week, the PPP is seeking to establish some credibility in the governance of a province that has remained in a state of disarray and bloody discord. There is, of course, Karachi with its own challenges.

Against this backdrop, Murad Ali Shah is apparently undertaking an impossible task. Yet, he inspires some hope. Though he belongs to the same rural and socially feudal background that distinguishes the PPP’s provincial leadership, he stands out as a modern person because of his education in a major American university and his work experience in the US. He is smart and gives the impression of being upright and committed.

In just over a week, he has made an impression. There should be nothing exceptional in being punctual but in our conditions, he has earned the media’s ‘shabash’ for being punctual himself and demanding the same from other functionaries of the secretariat. This is how a monumental task of reforming a complicated system must begin with mundane and rather cosmetic measures. Perhaps, in this business, these things are important.

Essentially, the fact that Murad Ali Shah has replaced Syed Qaim Ali Shah has made an impact. Qaim Ali Shah was aged and not entirely in control because of the constant involvement of the party’s leadership, though he was eminently qualified as a politician and also as a person for the position he held. Yes, his age was a factor. It should also be noted that in an administration that was exceptionally corrupt, he did not figure in any financial scandals.

Murad Ali Shah, in an administrative sense, has better credentials. One feels that he is acquainted with the concept of meritocracy and the importance of proper work ethics. Ah, but there is the rub. What we know of our political culture and bureaucratic practices or, in a larger sense, the inherent character of our society, would tend to make these values somewhat redundant.

So, we may feel sorry for what the new chief minister of Sindh is up against. In addition, there are bound to be limits to his freedom of action in the presence of a leadership that is manifestly flawed and perverse in some ways, the decline of the party being a testimony to this weakness. We do not have sufficient evidence about the authority and the abilities of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. So long as his father retains his veto power, we may keep our fingers crossed.

Far from the reach of television cameras, Murad Ali Shah would surely have done some serious thinking about what is possible in our present circumstances and how the tide can be turned. His assignment, in the light of the expectations he has raised, would demand some seminal and even revolutionary measures to make Sindh a more viable project. He must do something more innovative about Karachi than to attend to its garbage and tour the city in the wake of the rain emergency. The human interest idea of inviting his look-alike will also not go far.

One explanation of the change in Sindh is that the PPP is desperate to improve its image before the 2018 general elections. In that sense, he is in a race against time as the finish line is just about 21 months away. Incidentally, this deadline has also alerted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; addressing his parliamentary party on Thursday, he called for speeding up the development projects. There is bound to be a sense of urgency about what the federal and the provincial governments have achieved during the past three years and what they plan to do to justify their re-election and extension in their mandate.

Alas, so much precious time was wasted in the ‘dharna’ kind of political confrontation. The major parties seem to be in the same mode even now. Hence, it is necessary to shift the spotlight on real development and on issues that relate to the well-being of the people. In this respect, Murad Ali Shah may look at Shahbaz Sharif with a measure of envy and administration, though he may not have the same autonomy and administrative backup.

I have intentionally not narrowed down to Karachi in the context of the burdens of the Sindh government, partly because of the vast magnitude of its problems. Besides, the Rangers are playing a dominant role in the execution of the law and order operation launched in September 2013. There have been some radical shifts in the power politics of the city. The MQM stands deeply wounded but is still capable of exploiting narrow ethnic passions to cause a lot of trouble.

Unfortunately, Sindh has for long remained a battleground for the PPP and the MQM in the context of not just ethnic but also an urban-rural divide. No other political party is able to provide a parking place for the captive electorate of the province, particularly in Karachi. Votes cast in 2013 had certified the opportunity that PTI possessed. But what do you expect from a party that could not take advantage of the unprecedented show of popular support in the Lahore rally on October 30, 2011.

In any case, Sindh is unique in many respects and has the potential of almost reinventing Pakistan, a thought that is so pertinent at this time when Independence Day celebrations are gaining momentum. A visionary leadership can invest the diversity of Sindh into the creation of a meaningful plural polity that is able to learn from modern history. Our present leaders are obviously not capable of launching this movement. The foundation stone of this idea may be laid with the negation of the politics of identity.

Irrespective of these thoughts, we should understand that the parameters within which Murad Ali Shah can operate are quite limited. We feel encouraged by his hard work, by his confidence and also by his intellectual capacity. But the entire system is rotten and new beginnings can only go so far. This does not mean that we should not be happy to see him at the helm of the Sindh government.

The writer is a senior journalist.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com