The PPP’s last chance

The recent victory of the PPP in Ghotki has created a ripple of excitement among party workers but this euphoria should not blind the Sindh-based political party to the miserable conditions of the province’s residents.

The party may want to present its triumph in the constituency, earlier won by PTI Sardar Ali Mohammad Maher, as proof of its popularity but given the archaic feudal system and its repressive tools of coercion such success cannot be used to gauge the party’s popularity.

The victory has merely replaced one feudal with another. The landed-gentry still holds sway in Ghotki, which houses one of the most powerful landlords of the province. The district has been embroiled in tribal clashes and feudal feuds for several years. According to Bhittai Social Watch and Advocacy (BSWA), a local NGO, from 2010 to 2014 around 2,301 people, including 160 women and 45 children, were killed brutally and 3,697 injured in 1566 tribal clashes reported from 22 districts of the interior Sindh. This means that every year 313 conflicts occur, and 460 people are killed.

Of the overall 22 affected districts, eight districts such as Khairpur, Shikarpur, Larkana, Kashmore, Sukkur, Qamber-Shahdadkot, Ghotki and Jacobabad have been the most affected districts. Critics claim that the PPP has done nothing to undermine the power of these feudals, including those belonging to Ghotki. They say the party has, instead, struck political deals with feudals who were not just involved in these clashes but were also accused of holding illegal jirgas, handing down brutal punishments in several parts of Sindh.

The PPP is lucky that no organized political force has been able to challenge its power in the interior of Sindh. The Awami Tehreek of Rasool Bux Palejo may have produced a few intellectuals and die-hard political activists but it failed to make any in-roads in electoral politics. Qadir Magsi, G M Syed’s disciples and other nationalist leaders could also not succeed in denting the party that has been ruling over Sindh since 2008. General Zia hobnobbing with late G M Syed at a time when the PPP was under severe repression made many believe that the nationalists were under the influence of non-democratic forces. Thereafter, they could never put up an impressive performance in elections.

It is true that in the past the PPP had to face a number of obstacles from powerful circle but after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto at least in Sindh the party has enjoyed absolute power. While its leaders enriched themselves, the province did not witness any substantial change. All areas of the province continued to be dominated by feudal families. The archaic tribal laws in practice remained effective instead of progressive legislation carried out in the last 11 years. The party did not come up with any concrete measures to rid the province from the clutches of the landed gentry, which now also dominates the bureaucracy of the second biggest federating unit in the country.

The human development index of the province cannot be described as ideal. Though a few reforms were carried out in the health sector, most of the policies related to this crucial sector remained flawed. No attention was paid to preventive care, and hepatitis spread in several parts of the province. One of the factors contributing to this situation was contaminated water. The ruling party in Sindh claims to have set up several water filter plants across the province but the outbreak of water-borne diseases flies in the face of such claims. The contaminated water that the majority of residents are condemned to consume lends credence to claims of the PPP’s detractors. It is true that the party has established some advanced health facilities in Karachi and other urban centres besides upgrading dozens of district health centres but by and large its performance in this important sector is not impressive.

The situation in the education department is not rosy either. Pir Mazharul Haq, the ex education minister of the province, had once admitted that more than 4000 schools were non-functional in the province. There are still thousands of schools that are believed to be non-functional. Fishing communities say that more than 95 percent schools in Sindh’s coastal areas lack access to pure drinking water. And dozens of schools in the metropolis also suffer from shortage of pure drinking water. Activists say that more than 20,000 of the province’s 46,039 schools are without working lavatories. The government itself admitted in 2016 that the number of such schools was around 10,000. Hundreds of schools have also been without boundary walls, proper power connections and other basic facilities.

The PPP may claim to have provided thousands of jobs in the last 11 years, which is correct to a great extent, but the unemployment rate of the province is still around five percent (it is higher among women at 11.8 percent). There are 50,000 public-sector jobs in a province of nearly 60 million people that grows at a rate of 2.5 percent. With this pace of growth, 1.5 million people are added to the population of the province every year.

It is unfortunate that despite winning again and again from Sindh, the PPP did not take any drastic action to industrialise its power base. In fact, some say the ruling elite encouraged the deindustrialization of such areas since industries could undermine the influence of this elite. As a result, industries continue to concentrate in urban centres. According to the census of manufacturing units in Sindh, Karachi alone has 1,198 manufacturing units out of a total 1,825 units in the province. The second and third highest number of units were located in Hyderabad (98 units) and Dadu including Kotri and Nooriabad (83 units). This indicates that some 75 percent of industrial units were located in and between Hyderabad and Karachi. This means that most of the industries are still located in urban centres, leaving millions at the mercy of feudal lords who continue to force them to work in inhuman conditions in their farms or fields.

It is true that there is no strong political alternative in the province to challenge the power of the PPP but the party should remember its less impressive performance is lending credence to the narrative of those that present it as corrupt and incapable of delivering. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should make hectic efforts to dispel this impression but this cannot be done by merely putting all the blame on powerful quarters. If the party is determined to serve the people then no power on Earth can prevent it from doing so.

The party needs to make sure no child is out of school by the end of its term. It needs to take drastic actions to wipe out hepatitis and other epidemics before the next general elections. It must set a deadline to provide pure drinking water to all residents of the province besides taking actions on a war footing to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases. To address malnutrition and stunted growth, it must come up with a food plan for the extremely poor people of the province. The party should also launch a massive drive to purge government departments of black sheep besides setting up inquiry committees with a task to probe into any undue rise in the wealth of its own legislators.

The PPP has already been in power for more than 11 years now. This is its third consecutive term in Sindh. If it fails to deliver this time, it may still win the polls but it will go down in history as a party that was voted again and again into power but did not meet the expectations of people. Every victory should not be taken as a reward for good performance. If the PPP wins the next polls, it could well be itslast chance to rule over the province.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

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