Daily Times

HYDERABAD: In Pakistan’s stratified, semi-feudal society, patronage and kinship play a huge role in politics, often dominating ideology.

According to some estimates, more than half of the seats of national and provincial assemblies have been ‘forwarded’ from father to son, brother to brother, thus keeping the ‘business’ of politics within family.

Analysing Sharif’s family, the ousted elder brother Nawaz Sharif has run the government for a long time with his brother Shahbaz Sharif ruling Punjab, besides his wife Kulsoom Nawaz and Maryam as influencing party’s subordinates and decisions.

Parliamentarians were found to involve their family members or relatives in politics, particularly during general elections.

Apart from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has also given party tickets to those politicians, who were members of the parliament in the past including Shah Mehmood Qureshi (former PPP member) and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi (former PMLN member).

The Sharif family has fielded eight family members for contesting elections including Shahbaz Sharif, Kulsoom Nawaz, Hamza Sharif, Captain Safdar and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif.

Chaudhry’s of Gujrat have also fielded six members of their family including Chaudhry Shaujat, Pervez Illahi, Monis Elahi, Wajahet Hussain, Major Tahir Sadiq and Anwer Cheema.

Dynastic political system still prevails in the country as the general elections-2018 approach.

Meanwhile, Makhdooms of Hala, Mehr brothers of Ghotki, Jatois of Moro, Shirazis of Thatta, Jakhranis of Jacobabad, Yousuf Raza Gilani’s family, Raisanis of Balochistan, Khosas, Magsis and Arbabs of Thar are again going to dominate and ‘conquer’ political system of Pakistan.

The literacy rate in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, is alarming as 6,000 schools remained dysfunctional and closed during PPP’s tenure while the school buildings were being used by parliamentarians as their animal barns and rest houses.

Moreover, 70% of the people of rural areas with 90% of them being illiterate have been employed by feudal lords, while they have no other option but to vote for the candidates belonging to landlord’s family.

The landlords of Punjab and Sindh maintain their private ‘armies’ and patronise crimes of kidnapping for ransom, murders, killing women and men for honor, extortion and land grabbing.

In such a situation, a poor villager or small town dweller dare not to risk his and his family’s life by refusing vote to landlords.

Zulfiqar Mirza’s four family members including Fahmida, Hasnain, Hassam and himself are contesting for five seats out of the total seven in Badin districts on party tickets issued by Grand National Alliance as if the whole district with more population than Qatar is their Sultanat.

Though, this time awareness has disseminated in Pakistan as voters have broken their silence by confronting the candidates about resolution of their issues.

Published in Daily Times, July 5^th 2018.