How will PPP fare with Irfanullah Marwat onboard?

Analysts believe that the political heavyweight with a ‘tarnished’ image can help the party gain PS-114 in the upcoming polls and strengthen its presence in NA-251

Although in its ongoing efforts to woo heavyweights into the fold of the party to strengthen its position in Karachi the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has successfully brought Irfanullah Marwat onboard, the move has attracted severe criticism because of the provincial assembly member’s alleged excesses against the party in the past.

Marwat, who was elected from the PS-114 constituency on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ticket, met the PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari on Friday at the Bilawal House and announced joining the party.

Political analysts and party leaders termed Marwat’s inclusion into the PPP a great success for gaining a confirmed provincial assembly seat in Karachi. “Also, Marwat’s addition will help the party remove the perception that it can only win from Lyari, Malir and Keamari, predominantly Baloch and Sindhi-populated areas,” said a former PPP office-bearer for the city.

Announcement of Marwat’s inclusion into the party, however, triggered a debate, criticising the PPP leadership for including a man who was not only involved in “forcibly changing loyalties of the party’s lawmakers” during Jam Sadiq Ali’s government in the 1990s but was also implicated in the infamous Veena Hayat gang-rape case.

Son-in-law of former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Marwat became popular while serving as adviser for home affairs under the then chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali in the 1990s, during which era he was allegedly responsible for the directives issued to the Crime Investigation Agency’s then Karachi head Samiullah Marwat to kidnap PPP’s MPAs and workers and force them to change their loyalties.

In her book ‘Aboard the Democracy Train: A Journey Through Pakistan’s Last Decade of Democracy’, prominent journalist Nafisa Hoodbhoy writes that in one of her reporting visits to the Central Jail Karachi, prisoners told her that Marwat had offered to reduce their jail sentences if they agreed to become approver in criminal cases against Zardari, who was already prosecuted in a special court of Suppression of Terrorist Activities set up by Nawaz Sharif.

Criticism on the social media prompted Zardari’s daughters Bakhtawar and Aseefa to express their displeasure over Marwat joining the fold of the PPP.

According to their tweets, Marwat was a “sick man” who should be “rotting in a jail cell” and should not be allowed anywhere near the party. They said the PPP that was led by a woman – their mother Benazir Bhutto – would not tolerate men like Marwat.

However, the party leadership, including Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, have not issued any statement regarding the issue.

On the other hand, while talking to Geo News, Marwat said that Zardari’s daughters had been misguided and that Senator Saeed Ghani was behind it. “There is no case against me. I’ve met Zardari several times, and there is a conspiracy to challenge the authority of the party’s co-chairperson.”

Marwat’s stronghold

PS-114 is considered one of hardest and sensitive constituencies in Karachi, where Marwat and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have always fought neck and neck.

The constituency comprises Mehmoodabad No 1 to 6, Chanesar Goth, Manzoor Colony, Akhter Colony, Azam Basti, Kashmir Colony, Defence View and Jamshed Town’s Karachi Administration Employees Cooperative Housing Society.

Despite Senator Ghani and other leaders residing in the constituency, the PPP could not become a significant stakeholder in the area in the past three general elections since 2002. Analysts believe that Marwat won the polls because of his personal clout, not because of the political parties to whom he belonged.

Abdul Jabbar Nasir, a veteran journalist extensively covering Karachi politics, said that after Marwat’s joining, the PPP would not only easily win PS-114 in the upcoming polls, but the party’s position in NA-251 would also strengthen.

“Marwat almost joined the PPP one and a quarter years ago, and because of it he carried out development projects in the constituency,” Nasir told The News.

In the 2013 general elections, Marwat on the PML-N ticket won PS-114 by securing 37,130 votes, defeating the MQM’s Abdul Rauf Siddique, who bagged 30,305 votes.

In the general polls of 2008, Siddique won PS-114 by securing 22,840 votes, defeating Marwat, who was contesting as an independent candidate, with a margin of mere 600 votes.

In the 2002 elections, Marwat, who belonged to the National Alliance at that time, secured the constituency by winning over 12,500 votes. Before joining the PML-N in 2013, he had also served as the central president of the Punjabi Pashtun Ittehad.