Smokers' corner: Why the PPP dominates Sindh

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) holds a strong grip on Sindh, despite criticism from the mainstream media. The opposition in the province is fragmented, mainly centered around the Pakistan Muslim League-F (PML-F) and several other groups including disgruntled former PPP members, Sindhi nationalist organizations, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and federal parties like the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

These alliances have repeatedly failed to challenge the PPP's dominance. To understand why, it's important to delve into the history of the PML-F. Originally, it emerged from a faction of the Muslim League in the mid-1950s. By the early 1960s, Pakistan's founding party had splintered into multiple factions, including the Council Muslim League and the Awami League.

In 1965, the Council League joined leftist and Islamist parties to form the Combined Opposition Parties alliance, which was later led by Fatima Jinnah. This led to the creation of the PML-F, which was established by Fatima Jinnah in 1965. The PML-F was initially led by Pir Pagara, a Sindhi politician and spiritual leader, who saw himself as the true heir to Sindh's politics.

However, his efforts to challenge the PPP were thwarted when the PPP chairman and fellow Sindhi Z.A. Bhutto came to power. Pagara then joined the anti-PPP coalition, the Pakistan National Alliance, and later aligned with the military-backed government of General Ziaul Haq. This shift marked a departure from grassroots political organization, as the PML-F became more tied to state patronage and support.

The opposition parties in Sindh have struggled to build a compelling political platform and mobilize public support around economic issues. Instead, they have functioned as loose conglomerates of localised feudal fiefdoms, controlled by figures like Pir Pagara and his son, Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi III. The PPP's success in Sindh can be attributed to its mastery over the provincial patronage network and control over the narrative of Sindhi identity.

Since 2008, the PPP has effectively utilized the provincial machinery, including programs like the Benazir Income Support Programme, to maintain control over the material reality of life in Sindh's majority Sindhi-speaking regions. This has left opposition parties like the PML-F and GDA, particularly in Sindhi-majority areas, with limited influence and electoral viability.

The PML-F has also struggled to compete with the PPP's centralised control over public resources, presenting itself as the sole defender of Sindh's economic and cultural rights.