PML-F looks to insignificant players to win in Sanghar

Considered the Pakistan Muslim League – Functional’s (PML-F) bastion, Sanghar’s PS-81 by-election, scheduled for April 20, has sent the party scampering to gain political support from parties with barely any influence in the constituency.

Addressing a joint presser on Monday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Dr Arif Alvi also officially announced supporting PML-F candidate, Jam Nafees for PS-81, two weeks after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) pledged its support to PML-F’s candidate.

Alvi speaking to the media during the presser said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had crossed all limits of corruption and people wanted to get rid of them, and that the PTI was all set to support and campaign for PML-F’s candidate.

PML-F MPA and former leader opposition in the Sindh Assembly Shaharyar Mahar was reported to have met with PTI officials on Monday to seek their support.

Despite PTI’s negligible presence in Sanghar, the PML-F seeks to benefit from PTI central leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s Ghousia Jamaat’s followers.

However, sources disclosed to The News that Qureshi had already entered an unwritten agreement with the PPP to support Jam Madad Ali – PPP’s candidate.

The seat fell vacant after Jam Madad Ali jumped ship from the PML-F to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in February this year.

Jam Madad is now contesting the elections on PPP’s ticket, while the PML-F has fielded the former’s maternal cousin Jam Nafees as its candidate.

In a by-election held in 2013 in Sanghar district PML-F was dealt a severe blow after PPP’s Shazia Marri managed to bag one of three main seats of the PML-F.

Jam Madad Ali is the nephew of late Jam Sadiq Ali who was a staunch PPP supporter and a close confidante of the party’s founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. However, Jam Madad had for years been associated with the Pagaras but recently defected from the party to join PPP.

He entered into politics in 1993 after he won a provincial assembly seat from Sanghar – ancestral abode of the Jams. Before that he had been closely associated with Jam Sadiq Ali during his time as Sindh’s caretaker chief minister.

Commenting on PML-F’s move to field Madad’s cousin as its candidate, Jam Madad Ali claimed the PML-F was trying to create a rift between the two families. However, adding that Jam Nafees was just like a son to him.

While other smaller political groups are also contesting the by-election, political observers believe the contest is one sided since differences between Pagara’s family would also benefit the PPP.