Naz Baloch’s departure setback for PTI, boon for PPP

ISLAMABAD: Naz Baloch’s departure from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and joining of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), apparently caused by compulsions of Sindh politics and internal strife, turned out to be a setback for the former and a boon for the latter.

Her floor crossing is a telling response to the PTI from the PPP for Imran Khan’s weaning away of a few prominent associates of Asif Ali Zardari in Punjab. This will certainly buoy up the PPP, which is having a tough time in the majority province.

Naz Baloch, who had exuberantly defended the PTI everywhere and ridiculed the PPP for a long time, lost hope in her ex-party specifically in Sindh where Asif Zardari’s squad continues to rein supreme and is all set to carry the day in the next elections particularly in the interior parts of the province. She had deactivated herself for the PTI for the past several months, sparking speculation that she is exploring other political options.

While the PTI’s focus is to mainly strengthen its position in Punjab in a bid to nibble at the power of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the PPP is seemingly more concerned about consolidating its hold on Sindh and is engaged in even taking those leaders of different parties in its fold whose political standing is just symbolic.

Senior PTI leader Shafqat Mehmood dismissed Naz Baloch’s leaving as inconsequential, saying she was an ordinary party worker. His supporters posted on the social media her old tweets in which she had taken on the PPP. However, PTI leader Fauzia Kasuri, who is also silent for a long time, showed a good heart for her as she tweeted that Naz Baloch’s departure from the PTI is a sad loss for the party. She wrote that Naz Baloch defended and served it with a passion and she wished her success and good luck.

On the day Naz Baloch said goodbye to the PTI, the party received another bad news – the results of the NA-260 Balochistan – where it was unprecedentedly routed and could secure only 271 votes. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) nominee, who was the winner, secured 39,852 ballots; the Balochistan National Party nominee clinched 27,639 votes and PPP contestant got 10,035 ballots in a low turnout voting.

Naz Baloch saw no future for herself in the PTI especially in Sindh she came from and from where she will be vying for a federal or provincial seat in future elections. Everybody agrees that although the PTI had emerged as the second largest party in Karachi in terms of popular votes, its organisational structure in the metropolitan is ridden with deep infighting and is not in a position to put up a great challenge in any electoral fight. Additionally, Sindh in general and Karachi in particular have never been a priority for Imran Khan.

While abandoning the PTI, Naz Baloch alluded to this stark reality. She said the PTI, which championed the youth and called for change, has itself changed. “This is not the dawn we wished to see and hopes of change are dead as Imran Khan is doing politics of status quo.

In 2013, Naz Baloch had contested NA-240 Karachi seat of the National Assembly on the PTI ticket and lost. She had mustered only 21096 votes as against 87,805 ballots of winner Sohail Mansoor Khawaja.