It all started when a local news paper published a JIT report which was presented in the Sindh High Court by Sindh law enforcement agencies. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami took a very hard stance against the MQM on the basis of findings of this report which created almost a war like situation between the MQM and the PTI. Though tension between these two parties has diffused to an extent but at the moment it seems that this chapter is not closed yet and will keep creating waves in the local politics of Sindh.
However, discussions on this issue managed to take all media attention away from the news of rifts between different sections in the Pakistan Peoples Party. Currently PPP is the ruling party in Sindh and historically, a major chunk of its vote bank has always been from the very low to low socio economic strata. According to many surveys, the literacy rate and the education received of majority of its voters is also the lowest compared to the voters of other major parties. There could be many reasons for this phenomenon but one of the many important factors could be the politics of emotions and endless reference to sacrifices rendered first by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and then his daughter Benazir Bhutto. There is no denying of the fact that these sacrifices were huge and can be considered turning points in the short history of our country but besides these, unfortunately, PPP cannot boast of doing much otherwise.
Reports have been emerging in local media , that mainly because of the inefficiency, incompetence and corruption of the Sindh government, serious differences have evolved between the former President, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and his son and the Chairman of the PPP Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Serious allegations have been leveled by the former interior minister of Sindh Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza against the leadership of his party and according to him Mr.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has temporarily distanced himself from politics because of the disappointing performance of the Sindh government and differences with his father on various issues. In a very recent television interview Dr. Mirza has also accused Sindh government of financial corruptions through the recently established Sind Bank and various irregularities in sugar mills by the current Sind government as well as issuance of hundreds of thousands of arms weapons by the previous Sindh government of the PPP to lyari gangsters. Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza in the same interview also severely criticized Mr. Anwar Majeed who is a close friend of Mr. Zardari and Mr. Rehman Malik who served as the interior minister of Pakistan in the last PPP government.
With this background and in this scenario, in hind sight, the launching of the political career of Bilawal Bhutoo at a specific time seems to be a strange move. Strange because, time and again, Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders of the PPP had made it very clear that come what may, they would not let the PMLN government fall. During the time when Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was being prepared for his speech for the October 18, 2014 public meeting which was to be held in Karachi, his father Asif Ali Zardari was trying his level best to protect the PMLN led which appeared to be in a bit of bother by the extremely aggressive brand of politics by the PTI and the PAT. I would repeat myself that this launch of the political career of Bilawal at this particular stage appears very odd, as early elections did not seem to be anywhere in the planning of the PPP and hence there was no urgency for this launch. If anything, the PPP at this point should have been observing the political arena silently after completing its five year tenure.
Then the questions arises that what could be the possible reasons for this launch. Answering to this question would be much more easy if we see what all has happened to the PPP since this move. Few days before his October 18 speech, when the tempo was building up for the all important public meeting in Karachi, Bilawal Bhutto issued a statement which surprised all. In very aggressive tone mixed with very strange expressions on his face, he severely criticized almost all the political leaders of the country including Imran Khan but the most surprising move was the severe criticism for the MQM leader Mr. Altaf Hussain. What followed was expected. Both the parties reacted very strongly but the reaction of the MQM proved too costly for the PPP as the MQM decided to part ways with PPP and left the Sindh coalition government after this speech. At a point when the performance of the Sind government was the worst compared to all provinces and being critically evaluated by all, this decision by the MQM to quit the government appeared to severely damage the reputation of the PPP.
Very soon afterwards, rumors started growing that differences have emerged between Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Mr. Asif Ali Zardari after which reports came that Mr. Bilawal has left for his permanent habitat that is the city of London after severe displeasure shown by his father for the aggression shown by him against leaders of the other political parties.
Currently, rumors are, that this could all be planned tactics by the so called genius politician Mr. Zardari and it is possible that Bilawal Bhutto was pushed into direct confrontation with other political parties by his team of political advisors and groomers directly on the instructions of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari himself, so that the strong reaction by the MQM and other parties could be used as a justification to distance Bilawal Bhutto Zardari from politics for some time.
At this time, when elections for Senate are near, seat adjustment between the PPP and the MQM is taking place and Bilawal Bhutto Zaradri has distanced himself from politics for some time; this sudden outburst and serious corruption allegations against Sind government by the former interior minister Sind Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza has the potential to create further turmoil in the already volatile politics of Sind.
Another interesting development which is simultaneously taking place and could be linked to all these incidents could be the arrest of the famous Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch in the UAE. According to media reports, he will be handed over to the Pakistani authorities in a few days and perhaps this will create even more problems for the Pakistan People Party.
With all this happening and the PTI trying to create space for itself in urban Sindh, in a few more days to come, the local politics of Sindh will see many unexpected twists and turns, effects of which will directly affect the national politics in the back ground of Senate elections. It will not be suprising if we see a faction of the PPP emerging under the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Fatima Bhutto breaking away from the leadership of the current PPP.
