Petty infighting sinks them all in PP-78 by election
The winner in the Jhang by-election deserves his success. He represents, after all, the working and the wisdom of democracy. Independent candidate Maulana Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi (mark the surname), with the backing of the banned Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat trumped the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI put together by a margin of 12,793 votes, by the unofficial results. The winner received 48,562 votes while the combined total garnered by the three mainstream parties was 41, 961. The PML(N) which earlier held this constituency, mustered 35,469 votes, the PPP 3,671 and the PTI 2,821. But behind these bare statistics lie weighty matters that reflect badly both on our unprincipled brand of politics and on the mainstream parties.
Many people may have their concerns about a candidate with a sectarian bias and a radical background. The curious denial of the Rangers operation in the Punjab no doubt allows space to the extremists within the religious elements to prosper and carry out their inhuman acts of terrorism far and wide. But, the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI also failed to evolve a consensus candidate who might have proved a credible challenger, separated as they are by the gulf of the unending personal disputes of their respective leaderships. A modicum of good sense and unity could have prevailed and eventually resulted in a moderate candidate emerging as the winner.
The result of the by-election should be particularly shocking for the supposedly ‘new’ PPP. The results of successive bye-elections in Punjab indicate that its vote bank in the province has withered away, a direct consequence of the party’s barren performance during its last tenure. What is more the common voter finds little difference between the PPP and other parties except that the PPP has accumulated a reputation for corruption and lack of concern for the common man. The campaigning by its big guns, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Syed Khursheed Shah and Shehla Raza came to naught. How the mighty have fallen!