Zulfiqar Mirza group wins all 14 wards in Badin

[Jolie]

Re: Zulfiqar Mirza group wins all 14 wards in Badin

@Silaaj

Only reason PPP wins now in Sindh is because of a lack of alternates. WHenever alternates arise, PPP gets thrashed. Badin is a classic example. If other parties form a meaningful ground level presence in interior Sindh, PPP will disappear fast, because Benazir Bhutto was the last true hope for them. Bilawal hasnt been accepted as warmly.

Similar reasons exist for PMLN’s hold in north Punjab, where no alternates were present. PTI’s attempts to create a presence have been met with outright force (killings, murders, threats and what not, a phenomenon which exists in rural Sindh and Karachi as well)

I wouldn’t call Zulfiqar Mirza an “alternative”. He’s a powerful local don with an armed militia of his own and band of loyal supporters, and the whole basis of his campaign was that “I’m very much still a PPP Jiayla, I just don’t like Asif Ali Zardari, but Jiye Bhutto nontheless”. So nothing different. PPP simply couldn’t be bothered to challenge him otherwise if a weak and non armed candidate was standing - PPP would have thrashed him and killed his voters by unleashing Sindh police and local goons, or asking their loyal to screw the administrative process.

PTI stands absolutely no chance winning a single seat in Sindh even in next 40 years, but if they want to “form a meaningful ground level” in Sindh, then they will unfortunately have to make alliances with likes of Mirza and Mumtaz Bhutto and that means facing a huge public backlash, and I don’t think it’s worth it. In fact, other than Punjab, they now need to start playing close attention to the events in FATA, and become a meaningful political voice there.