Politicians, feudal lords in control of civic bodies

Politicians and feudal lords have captured the local government institutions, by winning quite a large number of seats in the municipal elections held last Sunday. The early results announced by the election commission indicate a major setback for the military government in its plans to eliminate the political parties and the feudals in a bid to transfer power to the poorer sections of the populace.

While in Sindh, the Pakistan People's Party emerged as the major gainer, the Pakistan Muslim League, led by exiled prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has also done fairly well. Latest results show that the PPP has won at least 58 Nazim seats in Larkana district and 29 in Jacobabad. The PML-N has been victorious in Shikarpur area, the third Sindh district chosen for sample elections by the regime.

In Punjab, big landlords, who have been controlling politics in their respective areas, have succeeded in getting their nominees or supporters elected to union councils. They include Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the chief of the multi-party arrangement called the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, former president Farooq Leghari, former caretaker prime minister Mir Balkh Sher Mazari, his younger brother Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari, Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa, Punjab president of the PML-N, former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former minister Amjad Hameed Dasti, Sardar Javed Iqbal Gurchani and Sahebzada Faizul Hasan.

Analysts said that this clearly indicated that in a belt, where people speak the 'seraiki' language, as opposed to Punjabi, conventional politicians and their parties have achieved success. These parties are the Pakistan Democratic Party, the PPP, the Millat Party, the JUP (Niazi group) and the PML-N.

Some of these parties have formed electoral alliances to dupe the military, which wanted traditional politics to end, but the game plan seems to have failed. Some of the political parties have started making unsubstantiated claims. The Millat Party of Farooq Leghari claimed to have won 296 union council seats, the Jamaat-e-Islami laid claim to 76, and the Awami Tehrik of Maulana Tahirul Qadri claimed victory on 106.