Provincial promises

On Friday, Dawn had two articles examining the social and political context of the new governments in Sindh, the Northwest Frontier Province and Balochistan. In Sindh, writes Ayesha Siddiqa, the PPP will have to be sensitive to the MQM’s decision to sit it out in the opposition. Tracing demographic changes back to 1947, she explains the ethnic tensions in the province, saying, “The ethnic tension in urban Sindh can only be solved once the internal boundaries of the state are re-imagined. The conflict in Sindh needs political solutions.”

In Balochistan, say Sayeed Hasan Khan and Kurt Jacobsen, while the PMLQ is the single largest party, the PPP is suddenly more politically competitive with the party’s apology for Zulfikar Bhutto’s policies in the 1970s. In NWFP, the Awami National Party’s success brings back Gaffar Khan’s non-violent anti-imperialism. They recommend that the PPP use his grandson, Asfandyar Wali’s diplomatic skills to reach an accord with Kabul.

mini.kapoor@expressindia.com