Despite persistent criticism in the mainstream media, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) maintains an almost invincible electoral grip on Sindh. Standing against this dominance is a fragile opposition, historically anchored by the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and currently consolidated under the banner of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).

Such opposition coalitions in Sindh often assemble around the PML-F and an eclectic mix of disgruntled former PPP members, local Sindhi nationalist groups, the Mohajir/Urdu-speaking nationalist party the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and federal players such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The alliances have consistently failed to curb the PPP’s dominance in the province. Deconstructing this failure requires revisiting the origins of the PML-F itself. The party’s roots trace back to the mid-1950s, when Pakistan’s founding party, the Muslim League, fragmented into various self-serving factions. By the early 1960s, three primary streams dominated the League’s fractured existence: the Convention Muslim League (formed in 1962 under military dictator Gen Ayub Khan), the Council Muslim League (organised the same year by League veterans discarded by Gen Ayub) and the East Pakistan-centred Awami League.

Ahead of the 1965 presidential election, the Council League partnered with an array of leftist and Islamist parties to form the anti-Ayub Combined Opposition Parties (COP) alliance. Following COP’s defeat, its presidential candidate, Fatima Jinnah, spearheaded the creation of a distinct Muslim League faction, appointing the influential Sindhi politician and spiritual leader Pir Pagara to its central leadership, a move that birthed the PML-F.

Sindh’s ruling party’s electoral dominance in the province rests on more than patronage networks. The inability of opposition parties such as the PML-F to challenge PPP’s hold over Sindhi identity and economic realities and to build grassroots organisations have played........

© Dawn (Magazines)