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From: sri venkat
Date: Wed, May 8, 2013 at 3:45 AM
Subject: Caste plays dominant role in Pak elections
To:
Caste plays dominant role in Pak elections
Sameer Arshad, TNN | May 7, 2013
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Caste-plays-dominant-role-in-Pak-elections/articleshow/19916533.cms
Caste arithmetic is crucial in Pakistani elections, particularly in Punjab.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a four-time Pakistan Muslim League (N)
parliamentarian, downplays the importance of biradari (caste) factor
in the May 11 elections and counts on his party's popularity to see
him through. Yet as a hardnosed politician, he has the biradari
breakup of his Murree-Kahuta constituency near Islamabad at his
fingertips - Rajputs 30% and the rest Jats, Arians, Gujjars etc.
The arithmetic is crucial as the factor has a strong impact on
elections particularly in rural Pakistan and more so in Punjab that
accounts for 55% national assembly seats. Rajputs are dominant in
northern Punjab, where Abbasi's constituency is located, followed by
Jats in central and Balochs in the province's south. The Peoples Party
(PPP)-led government had a Rajput prime minister and a Jat as his
deputy before it demitted office in March. The Bhuttos, who founded
and have led the party, are of Rajput ancestry.
Abbasi, who spoke to TOI from his constituency in the middle of an
election rally, is facing a tough contest. He is pitted against PPP's
Ghulam Murtaza, a Satti Rajput, and two others from his Abbasi clan
that accounts for 25% voters. Abbasi had lost to Murtaza in 2002, but
wrested the seat back five years later due to Rajput vote division.
Murree-Kahuta is instructive of how kinship-based politics works in
Pakistan. Military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's ban on political parties and the
1985 non-party elections are blamed for re-entrenching the biradari
system.
In an item headlined 'Caste plays a surprising role in Muslim
Pakistan's elections' Barbara Crossette of the New York Times
described it as an unlikely factor that plays a role in a party's
choice of candidates ahead of the 1990 elections.
Little has changed since then. A Gallup survey ahead of the 2008
elections confirmed the existence of biradari as an important civil
society institution. "Thus, 37% rural voters and 27% urban voters
claim(ed) they had gathered in a meeting of their biradari to
deliberate on whom to vote," said the survey report.
Biradaris in fact have an all-encompassing role. "...biradari makes
decisions of every aspect (political, social) and an individual is
bound (by it)," Mughees Ahmed and Fozia Naseem note in Berkeley
Journal of Social Sciences.
Political analyst Hasan-Askari Rizvi adds, "The biradari link becomes
weak in urban centres, although not completely irrelevant."
Durham University's Shaun Gregory lists biradari system among the
influences that have hobbled democracy and says leading political
parties in particular will continue to use it to maximise votes. "(It
is done) by harnessing wealthy land-owners with power over the
neo-feudal rural peasantry, the wealthy mine and energy field owners
with control of their large workforces, and the factory and industry
owners who exert great influence over many of urban poor."
Gregory noted the iron grip of the biradaris, which underpin the rule
of elites such as the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, explains why it is
difficult for emergent parties to flourish.
This makes Imran Khan's emergence as a political force interesting.
Gregory notes Khan cannot draw on the traditional power structures
dominated by the biradari and instead has made his appeal nationally
and offered hope of reform and change.
The ex-cricketer performance would be a measure of the biradari
strength. "If he fails, the biradari politics of the past will have
triumphed, for the moment at least," concludes Gregory.
From: sri venkat
Date: Wed, May 8, 2013 at 3:45 AM
Subject: Caste plays dominant role in Pak elections
To:
Caste plays dominant role in Pak elections
Sameer Arshad, TNN | May 7, 2013
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Caste-plays-dominant-role-in-Pak-elections/articleshow/19916533.cms
Caste arithmetic is crucial in Pakistani elections, particularly in Punjab.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a four-time Pakistan Muslim League (N)
parliamentarian, downplays the importance of biradari (caste) factor
in the May 11 elections and counts on his party's popularity to see
him through. Yet as a hardnosed politician, he has the biradari
breakup of his Murree-Kahuta constituency near Islamabad at his
fingertips - Rajputs 30% and the rest Jats, Arians, Gujjars etc.
The arithmetic is crucial as the factor has a strong impact on
elections particularly in rural Pakistan and more so in Punjab that
accounts for 55% national assembly seats. Rajputs are dominant in
northern Punjab, where Abbasi's constituency is located, followed by
Jats in central and Balochs in the province's south. The Peoples Party
(PPP)-led government had a Rajput prime minister and a Jat as his
deputy before it demitted office in March. The Bhuttos, who founded
and have led the party, are of Rajput ancestry.
Abbasi, who spoke to TOI from his constituency in the middle of an
election rally, is facing a tough contest. He is pitted against PPP's
Ghulam Murtaza, a Satti Rajput, and two others from his Abbasi clan
that accounts for 25% voters. Abbasi had lost to Murtaza in 2002, but
wrested the seat back five years later due to Rajput vote division.
Murree-Kahuta is instructive of how kinship-based politics works in
Pakistan. Military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's ban on political parties and the
1985 non-party elections are blamed for re-entrenching the biradari
system.
In an item headlined 'Caste plays a surprising role in Muslim
Pakistan's elections' Barbara Crossette of the New York Times
described it as an unlikely factor that plays a role in a party's
choice of candidates ahead of the 1990 elections.
Little has changed since then. A Gallup survey ahead of the 2008
elections confirmed the existence of biradari as an important civil
society institution. "Thus, 37% rural voters and 27% urban voters
claim(ed) they had gathered in a meeting of their biradari to
deliberate on whom to vote," said the survey report.
Biradaris in fact have an all-encompassing role. "...biradari makes
decisions of every aspect (political, social) and an individual is
bound (by it)," Mughees Ahmed and Fozia Naseem note in Berkeley
Journal of Social Sciences.
Political analyst Hasan-Askari Rizvi adds, "The biradari link becomes
weak in urban centres, although not completely irrelevant."
Durham University's Shaun Gregory lists biradari system among the
influences that have hobbled democracy and says leading political
parties in particular will continue to use it to maximise votes. "(It
is done) by harnessing wealthy land-owners with power over the
neo-feudal rural peasantry, the wealthy mine and energy field owners
with control of their large workforces, and the factory and industry
owners who exert great influence over many of urban poor."
Gregory noted the iron grip of the biradaris, which underpin the rule
of elites such as the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, explains why it is
difficult for emergent parties to flourish.
This makes Imran Khan's emergence as a political force interesting.
Gregory notes Khan cannot draw on the traditional power structures
dominated by the biradari and instead has made his appeal nationally
and offered hope of reform and change.
The ex-cricketer performance would be a measure of the biradari
strength. "If he fails, the biradari politics of the past will have
triumphed, for the moment at least," concludes Gregory.
sent from samsung galaxy note, so please excuse brevity
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