Scoring Casteism: Interview Guide and Score Card (Filled Forms To assess the level of casteism, I have applied the Ambedkarian perspective, which demands the explicit anti-caste stance from the political workers therefore, any political worker or party that may claim to be anti-caste should not only explicitly recognize Dalit exclusion as the political issue but also avoid the casteist tendencies that may emanate from their belief in the functionality of caste, Sayedism, personality cultism and shrine worship. Hence, to be anti-caste, the score or percentage of the normativity and affirmation of caste of any political activist or the party should not exceed 1 (20%). The communication with most of the participants, including Dalits, was made with the Sindhi language, the cultural universal of the province. It was not easy for me to meaningfully engage with Dalits speaking in their dialect that varied from community to community and region to region. The conversational interviews conducted with 59 political workers in Mirpurkhas division were analysed to assess the prevalence, normativity and rationalization of casteism. The verbal indicators that I focused upon to assign the score to each tendency were related to see if the political worker: a) Mentions caste as the social identity, considers it superior/inferior, assigns class, traces genealogical roots, and considers Sayeds superior or Dalits inferior. b) Explains formation of electorates and the local politics in terms of caste affiliations. c) Relates his or her caste in terms of political ideology/party agenda. d) Considers caste as a politically relevant/irrelevant identity/Wants to eradicate or sustain caste system. e) Holds religious views (shrine worship, Sayedism, Sufism etc.) along with the affirmation or the denial of casteism. f) Is intimate with or committed to a Sayed/Pir/Sufi. g) Believes/disbelieves in hereditary politics/ in the power of person/caste/family. Table 1:Sayedism and Casteism in Sindhi Political Workers and Political Parties (Score Scale: 1 represents the lowest and 5 the highest scale of normativity of casteism 1=do not exist/affirm, 2=to some extent..., 3= exists/affirms, 4= greatly exist/affirms, 5= fanatically casteist/confirmist No Political N=59 Normativity party*1 Leaders & Saints Caste is basic Sayeds are Shrine worship is Dalits are Dalits are Average are born in Ashrafia idenity superior not bad responsible for unjustly score/percentag their exclusion excluded/discri e minated 1 AJP 4 1 2 1 2 1 3 33% 2 AT 4 3 2 1 1 1 3 36% 3 QAT 4 3 2 1 1 1 3 36% 4 STP 5 3 2 3 2 2 2 46% 5 JSMM 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 53% 6 SUP 5 4 3 3 2 3 2 57% 7 PPPP 12 3 3 3 3 3 3 60% 8 JSQM 7 4 3 3 2 3 3 60% 9 PTI 6 4 3 3 3 2 3 60% 10 PML-F 7 4 4 4 4 3 3 73% Average 66% 54% 50% 44% 42% 54% 51% Score Total Aver age Score 51% Casteism in political parties* *1: Political Party names and political orientation: Federalist/Parliamentary Parties: PPPP—Pakistan People’s Party; PML-F—Pakistan Muslim League Functional; PTI—Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Pro-state Nationalist Parties: QAT—Qaumi Awami Tehreek; STP—Sindh Taraki Pasand Party; SUP—Sindh United Party Sindhi Nationalist-Marxist Parties: AT—Awami Tehreek; AJP—Awami Jamhoori Party Interview Guid and Score Card Note: The form constains pseudonyms of most (if not all) the activists to ensure anonymity. Therefore, any real nomenclatural resembalance should not be taken as personal. The socres were not calculated during the conversations,but later after having listened the recorded conversations. .