‘Delay in polls has intensified political challenges’

An interview with Sindh United Party president Syed Zain Shah

Karachi: Syed Zainul-Abdeen, popularly known as Syed Zain Shah, is a nationalist politician who heads the Sindh United Party (SUP). He is the grandson of a veteran nationalist leader of Sindh, the famous G M Syed who is widely credited as the harbinger of Sindh’s struggle for national rights. In keeping with his family heritage, Zain Shah has always stood up for the rights of the Sindh’s poor.

He is an electrical engineer by profession, and graduated from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) which is located in his home district of Jamshoro. He moved to MUET from Jamshoro’s Cadet College Petaro where he had got admission after completing his primary education.

Soon after his graduation, he got jobs at the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and later at the Sindh Irrigation Department, serving there for five years. But during this period, he faced political victimization, and was fired during the Abdullah Shah government in 1996 on the charge of involvement in political activities.

Although he is much impressed with his grandfather, he believes in parliamentary politics and has been contesting elections. He started his political career in 1986, as an activist of the Jeay Sindh Students Federation (JSSF), the student wing of Jeay Sindh Mahaz party. Later in 2007 he joined the Sindh United Party (SUP) and held several party offices including the general secretary and the senior vice-president. He has now been elected as the party’s president.

Bol News spoke to him about the current political scenario.

Q. If former prime minister Imran Khan dissolves the assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, would it worsen the political logjam?

Syed Zain Shah: Dissolving the two assemblies could worsen political instability and further complicate the crisis. People could take to the streets and resort to protests, leading to street violence. This could lead to the declaration of emergency.

Q. The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance which is in power, intends to delay general elections while Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is pushing for early polls. Which option will best serve the interests of the country and its people?

SZS: As soon as the PTI’s government was unseated, general elections should have been held without forming a coalition government. Delaying the elections has worsened the crises facing the country. Holding early elections will benefit the people and address issues complicating the current political scenario.

Q. The PTI-led federal government also fell prey to various crises because Imran Khan was not a strong prime minister. Do you agree?

SZS: Mr Imran Khan has admitted at a presser that he only ran half of the government, while the rest was run by the former army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. This is still the case. There is no Gen Bajwa in office, but there is someone else with those powers to influence the country’s politics.

Q. Will the plunderers and killers ever be punished in this country? Will there be accountability?

SZS: Until the rulers stop giving NRO (a euphemism for pardons under the military-era National Reconciliation Ordinance) to politicians, there will be no justice in the country.  The first NRO was given by former military dictator, Pervez Musharaf, to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), exonerating its leaders Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari of corruption charges. It also absolved those alleged to be behind the mayhem and targeted killings in Karachi.

Q. Do you think that the plan to restore the Sharif family to power despite allegations of rampant corruption against it is likely to cause further harm to the country?

SZS: I was taken aback when the National Assembly passed last year a bill restricting jurisdiction of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to corruption cases involving an amount above Rs 500 million. It is really a shame. Has this national assembly not lost its credibility after this bill? Where does the country stand today? elected representatives give relief to the corrupt mafia.

Q. What in your opinion is the role of the establishment in political affairs?  Do the ‘institutions’ [military and Judiciary] have any legal grounds to nudge either the PTI or the PDM to do this or that?

SZS: As I said earlier, the establishment plays a major role in making and breaking alliances, especially in the pre-poll atmosphere. They had brought the PTI in in 2018, and ditched it in 20121.  Earlier, it created the same atmosphere for the PML-N and the PPP. It wages a pre-election campaign to get its sycophants – mostly sardars, pirs and politicians – to switch sides and back its favourite party. The parties which have fallen from its favours suffer excesses. Their activists are hounded and arrested and dragged into false court cases.

The institutions must play their role in ending the political logjam by ending practices that cause political polarization. It is important for political parties to come onto the same page as far as the constitutional process is concerned. If PDM and PTI can do this, they will be serving the larger interest of the country.

Q. Why in your opinion have the nationalist parties not succeed in elections so far?

SZS: Because we have never been the blue-eyed boys of the institutions. We have been described by the establishment as anti-state elements right from the days of our first Prime Minister, Liquat Ali Khan.

Q. Do you agree with the contention that the dynastic politics of PML-N and PPP are running the country?

SZS: I think many people who claim to belong to the middle classes have minted billions of rupees. New families are emerging to enjoy influence, monopoly and corruption in politics. Until accountability without discrimination is ensured, political dynasties will disappear. Take the example of PPP co-chairman and former president, Asif Ali Zardari. His family has no political background, so he’s not a product of dynastic politics. Yet, his family has now evolved into the system. If corrupt people are brought to book, they will automatically vanish from the scene.

Q. Can you give us your views about the situation during and after the recent rains and floods in Sindh?

SZS: Alas. What should I say? Flood victims underwent unexplained miseries. Fifteen million people were stranded, 2.3 million houses were damaged, 2,300 towns and innumerable villages were submerged, including thousands of acres of farmland and a huge number of livestock. More than 500,000 flood victims still remain without shelter, living a miserable life along thoroughfares and open spaces.

We are an agricultural people, so the rains have left us in a state of utter disaster.

Q. Why in your opinion did the PPP-led government fail to deliver even though it has ruled the province for over a decade?

SZS: PPP is an ultra-corrupt party, from Asif Ali Zardari right down to an ordinary worker. They pocket more than 50 per cent of the public funds, while the rest goes to the bureaucrats. There is no accountability, and no merit in terms of the appointments of government servants, their transfers and postings, and issuance of development contracts. That is why it is unable to deliver in terms of merit and development.

It was a party that was founded by the establishment. Its founder, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was a puppet of the establishment. He was given the target to abolish all nationalist movements from Bengal to Sindh, Balochistan and even the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Q. Does PPP have deep roots in Sindh? will it keep winning maximum seats in the general and local government elections?

SZS: If the establishment continues to support the PPP, it will continue to prevail in Sindh. But whenever real accountability is held, the party’s main leadership, including Asif Zardari and his family members would be arrested.

Besides, I think nowadays the people are becoming increasingly aware about corrupt people. So, the SUP and its ally, the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), will try to defeat the PPP in coming elections by focusing on parts of the population that have suffered the most due to deprivation and are angry.

Q. Why do other political parties fail to garner support for the interior of Sindh?

SZS: All nationalists parties of the country including Sindh truly represent people of the country and scores of their respective stalwarts have to face the enforced disappearance as they go missing. Nationalist parties are the right replacement of the PPP, but they are politically victimized and ignored. If we as nationalist activists are not crushed and PPP is not given undue favour, there will be a better situation throughout Sindh and the rest of the country.

Q. Why are the MQM-P factions uniting? Are they afraid of the popularity of PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)? Or by working separately they have lost their credibility and vote-bank?

SZS: The establishment is uniting these factions to counter the the rising popularity of the PTI in Karachi and Hyderabad. It is re-setting Sindh’s political dynamics to give MQM-P some share in power, and to also make it support the PPP, just as it did in Balochistan by making the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) to back PPP in that province.

But a united MQM-P is unlikely to register a great victory as it has done in past elections. It is not a natural alliance, and will not produce big results. Rampant corruption in leadership and the rank and file of the party has undermined its credibility and its vote-bank.

As far as the JI is concerned, it is a secondary party. It may clinch some seats in the local government elections, but not in the general elections.

Q. If MQM-P factions remain united, will they be able to benefit the Urdu-speaking people?

SZS: Most Urdu-speaking people used to be infatuated with MQM, though some of them feared or detested it. Both are now disappointed, and the MQM-P unification is unlikely to restore its vote bank. MQM-P leaders are now pocketing the massive donations which in the past they used to transfer to MQM supremo in London, Altaf Hussain.

Q. Which MQM splinter group is more popular, and how much support it is likely to get from the public? And what are their priorities?

SZS: Actually, they all are hungry for power and money, just like other politicians. MQM-P has been fielding its candidates for elections for around 30 years now, and has created its electoral base. But this base is divided among factions. Also, it has been losing its credibility over the years. If it is not patronized by the establishment, it may not be able to win all the seats it presently holds in the national and provincial assemblies.

Q. Why have you called for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the GDA? Is it an election alliance?

SZS: Yes. We plan to contest the coming elections under a common election symbol. Apart from this, our 10-point MoU with GDA also includes plans to protect geographical boundaries of Sindh, its water resources, and ensuring good governance and the rule of law, among others.