Balochistan has two dominant factors: feudal sardars on the right side of the government and their boycotting counterparts cherished as real leaders. The trouble is, the sardars keep switching sides, so that those backed by Islamabad rule at the cost of the others. The opposition has little wherewithal with which to stop the people from going to the polls.

Balochistan is a three-language province, with a large number of settlers from other parts of the country, the ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry being one such settler. The main groups are the Baloch, Pathans and Brahvis, with a sprinkling of Persian-speaking Hazaras and Punjabis. In the Makran coastal area (Gwadar port) bordering Iran, two impoverished Baloch groups represent a non-feudal setup: the mainstream Sunni Muslim and the adherents of the Zikri sect. The former largely support Baloch nationalists; the latter are pro-Islamabad. The two are equally represented in the population. Given the boycott call by the nationalists, the pro-establishment candidates are set to sweep the province, with a few mullahs going it alone despite the boycott call by Islamist parties.

Overall, there has hardly ever been a more lacklustre election in the last 60 years.

The writer is an editor with ‘Dawn’, Karachi

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