In Pakistan’s history we have witnessed not one but several alliances by opposition parties to try and challenge the ruling party of the time. And just like clockwork all these alliances have failed. This happened in the case of the most recent attempt at a Grand Democratic Alliance in Sindh. Whether this GDA will achieve anything as opposed to its predecessors is questionable. The first notable alliance of opposition Parties was seen during the Ayub era as the Combined Opposition Parties (COP) under the leadership of Fatima Jinnah. COP was made up of five opposition parties namely Pakistan Muslim League (Council), led by Khwaja Nazimuddin and Mian Mumtaz Khan Daultana; the Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman; the National Awami Party, led by Maulana Bashani; the North West Frontier group of the National Awami Party, led by Wali Khan; the Nizam-e-Islam Party, led by Chaudhry Mohammad Ali and Farid Ahmad; and the Jamaat-e-Islami, led by Maulana Maudoodi. Unsurprisingly, the COP was unable to put up any real challenge as is usually the case when it comes to dictatorships. What was surprising though was the fact the Dictator, Ayub, crossed all perceivable boundaries and launched a character assassination campaign against Quad-i-Azam’s sister. As conspiracy theories go, it was Ayub who ordered Fatima Jinnah’s tragic murder in order to put an end to his opposition for good. In the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto years, we saw the formation of another alliance called United Democratic Front (UDF) under the leadership of Pir Pagara. UDF represented the Muslim League factions, the leftist National Awami Party (NAP), religious parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP). This alliance was lacking any ideology or tangible goals and was combined only on the pretext of hatred for Bhutto. Eventually the UDF fell apart due to internal divisions and failed to make even the slightest impact. We are witnessing another attempt at forming an opposition alliance. However, it is quite restricted in scope. Like its predecessors, it is also likely to lacks any ideology or tangible goals to offer to prospective voters Soon after Bhutto had to deal with another opposition alliance. This time under the banner of Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) consisting of nine political parties holding secular, leftist and Islamist views. Unlike its predecessor though, the PNA managed to display some extent of unity and succeeded in bringing Bhutto to discussions. However, it was not the PNA but Ziaul Haq that finally managed to usurp Bhutto’s government and impose yet another Marshall Law. This led to the entire nation being convinced to prevalent beliefs that the PNA was simply an effort by the establishment to overthrow Bhutto’s government and in sight of apparent failure the Army had to intervene illegitimately. During Zia’s Marshall Law, Pakistan witnessed the emergence of a united political alliance backed by ideology for the first time. The goal was to put an end to the illegitimate dictatorship and bring democracy back to Pakistan. This alliance was suitably called the Movement for Restoration of Democracy which was spearheaded by Pakistan People’s Party led by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The MRD succeeded enough in forcing Zia to call for elections. However, the elections were quite evidently a farce and unrepresentative of the people. It was only after Zia’s death that Democracy was finally restored and the goal of the MRD was achieved. With the arrival of democracy after a lapse of over a decade, new democratic alliances were made. In 1988 Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) was formed comprising of nine parties including Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and ANP. However, once again it was believed that this alliance was a brainchild of the establishment with the aim to counterbalance PPP’s evident popularity amongst the masses. Again, taking from history, it was not the strength of the opposition alliance but an intervention by the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan that the PPP government was dissolved and the IJI managed to form the government in 1990. However, the IJI was short lived and fell apart once the religious parties no longer seemed keen to support Nawaz Sharif’s quest for power in the 1993 elections. Since then there were several attempts at forming opposition alliances including the one between PPP and the MMA during Musharraf’s Marshall Law. But following past trends, the strong opposition from democratic forces faced tough resilience from the dictator. It was only when Musharraf made massive blunders in the form of the Lal Masjid Operation and the dismissal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary that the opposition combined with the lawyers’ movement finally managed to make Musharraf bow down. In 2017 we are witnessing another attempt at forming an opposition alliance. However, it is very restricted in scope. Like its predecessors it lacks any ideology or tangible goals to offer to prospective voters. Also, like in the past it seems like an effort by the establishment aimed at countering PPP. Unlike the past, though, the PPP currently forms the government only in Sindh. Hysterically then, there is nothing grand about the Grand Democratic Alliance attempt in 2017. It is only a bunch of Sindh based politicians who do not seem to have any influence even in their home constituencies. Like the UDF of the 70s the GDA too is apparently led by Pir Pagara. However, the current Pir Pagara is victim to several defections within his own party. Those supporting him bring nothing to the equation either. The GDA lacks any ideology and fails to offer anything of substance. Figures like Zulfikar Mirza, Ayaz Palijo and Ghous Ali Shah are themselves controversial. In this modern age it is quite easy to see that the GDA is simply a group of stuntmen who are frustrated at being rejected by the voters. They are desperately trying to remain relevant in the current political scenario. History will repeat itself and the GDA will fade into history as another farce and a weak effort at challenging the Pakistan People’s Party. The writer is a former Pakistani Diplomat with vast experience in the USA Published in Daily Times, October 27th 2017.