Fahim followed in the footsteps of his father; so did Benazir. The on-again, off-again relationship continued. When a non-Sindhi establishment was busy castigating Benazir Bhutto and spouse Zardari, the Makhdoom threw his lot in with the Bhuttos; privately the differences between them kept simmering. At Benazir’s funeral Zardari said Fahim would be the party’s candidate for PM, but retracted soon thereafter.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, another Makhdoom from the feudal, southern Punjab, was tipped as a possible alternative, but one whose family’s loyalty to the party remains suspect; his father had defected and become Zia’s governor of Punjab. Yousuf Raza Gilani, another southern Punjab landlord and the former PPP speaker of the National Assembly, is another name that has been considered. Next comes Chaudhri Ahmed Mukhtar whose claim to fame is that he defeated the PML-Q kingpin Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in his hometown of Gujrat in central Punjab with a huge margin.

It was said that for Zardari anointing a leader from Punjab would be better. The party did not do too well in the most influential province; a Punjabi PM will help strengthen the PPP there; replacing a Punjabi prime minister, should Zardari decide to contest a by-election and present himself as a PM, would be easier than replacing a fellow Sindhi. But the feudal thinking informing the PPP decision-making defies all such logic. Allegiance and personal loyalty to the top leader count more than an aspirant’s democratic credentials, political record or loyalty to the party.

President Farooq Leghari, a diehard PPP loyalist, but someone who eventually sacked the second Benazir Bhutto government in 1995 after he was continuously humiliated by her, lingers in the Bhutto memory as a shadow. Zardari will be wary of both Qureshi and Yousuf Raza Gilani in case they are offered the premiership, because their backgrounds are so similar to Leghari’s.

... contd.