While friends and well-wishers all over the country have welcomed our initiative of launching the Social Democratic Party, terming it the need of the day, they have, however, wondered how we would confront the well-entrenched tribalism and the chiefs, sardars and waderas. These are the linchpin of the strangulating social and political system that has been the root cause of all woes and miseries of Sindh. All these friends have probably not kept pace with the evolutionary history of the Sindhi Society, particularly before and after the creation of Pakistan or throughout all these 70 years. The tribal chiefs and waderas, with a mindset viciously wedded to the suppression of the men and women of humble background living in their areas of influence or dependent for their livelihood on their resources–land, industry, political wheeling and dealing–, are contemptible. This mindset is not the exceptional characteristic of tribal chiefs and waderas but has seeped into the military and civil bureaucrats, industrialists and wealthy, including nouveau riche and politically influential persons, all cast together as the so-called elite. They are more contemptuous towards their human fellows from the low and middle class, and thus are more dehumanised, callous and vicious. However, we have had tribal chiefs, sardars and waderas in Sindh known for their humble living, modesty, kindness and generosity towards those dependent on their resources -agricultural lands, animal farms and orchards – and the people in distress, wayfarers and travellers. They maintained “autaqs” or ” travellers inns” known far and wide wherein travellers could break their journey, have food and take a bit of rest before resuming their journey. The food was of normal standard and available almost round the clock. In our region, there was quite a good number of such generous waderas. This cultural tradition, dating back from centuries, had well-popularised Sindh as the most “hospitable land.”This trend was a matter of pride for the Sindhi wadera until the apocalyptic social changes that overtook the Sindhi society after the 1970s. Though this social practice continues in some form, it has lost its rhythm in the third generation of these gentle souls. However, the family reputation for humility, hospitality, integrity, and generosity has partially survived the vicissitudes of the corruption and corrupt practices that began sweeping across the society five decades ago. The Social Democratic Party shall be the perfect home for such enlightened tribal chiefs, sardars and waderas. We shall enlist their support by endeavouring to revive this laudable social practice too. We have had tribal chiefs, sardars and waderas in Sindh known for their humble living, modesty, kindness and generosity towards those dependent on their resources We have a substantial swath of literate, educated and enlightened professionals, political activists and ideological diehards, prepared by left-wing and nationalist leaders, who just lost interest in their political activities because of the factional split in their original political outfits. Though disillusioned, they have not lost their urge for collective political strive in their land of hopes. Enlisting their membership shall be the main objective of the party in the first instance. The party membership will be gradually extended to other swaths of the population without any discrimination of caste, colour and creed through organizational campaigns, community gatherings, indoctrination sessions and the maximum use of the social media concentrating on the urban and semi-urban centres and big villages. The political waderas crowding in political parties and alliance in Sindh have already lost their credibility by monopolising the political power, resources of development and prosperity, including jobs, appointments, promotions and transfers; picking up on the national wealth at every level and filling the administrative structures with their incompetent and half-lettered sons, daughters, nephews and nieces. Their electoral position is not that strong. They manage to win by thin margins with the help of the administration, particularly the police, revenue and officials presiding over polling stations. That is why they cherry-pick police and revenue officers in their districts. They also generously use their ill-gotten wealth to buy votes of the people from the Dickensian squalors. These tactics do not work in urban and semi-urban regions. The election commission and workers of political parties can checkmate these malpractices. The people of Sindh have remained deprived of their basic constitutional rights since the past seven decades. The landed gentry has always been seeking power either by riding the bandwagon of the Convention Muslim League or the successive political parties. The political changes of the 1970s witnessed enormous growth in the power and influence of the landed gentry. They abandoned the sinking boat of Convention Muslim League and crowded in PPP. They reached the legislative assemblies, gained power, and accommodated their sons and nephews in senior administrative positions through the lateral entry. They quickly betrayed their patron when he was in hot waters preserving the political, financial and administrative gains they had amassed in the PPP rule. ZAB paid dearly for abandoning his original constituency – the poor and deprived people – and depending on the politicians of his aristocratic class as once Mairaj Muhammad Khan had poignantly recalled. The people of Pakistan have developed a strong aversion to political turncoats in the Punjab and KPK. This political awareness has also seeped in the urban and semi-urban centres of Sindh and, to some extent, Balochistan. The general elections of 2018 amply proved this public trend. Most of the so-called “electables” embraced by the PTI in Punjab were defeated squarely. So, the Social Democratic Party should not bother about the electables. We should take a lesson from the PPP debacle in the PS-11 situated in the heart of Larkana. The voters of urban and semi-urban centres today are as free and independent in the exercise of their electoral options as one could wildly imagine. The SDP is also innovating ways and means to minimise the expenditure on elections. Our experience in the last general elections supporting a group of independent candidates is helping us a lot in devising our strategy to keep the expenses to the barest minimum. The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books