KARACHI: Born in Hyderabad on 12 January, 1954, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza holds an MBBS from Liaquat Medical College Jamshoro.
He admits that he bounced around schools, which included Cadet College Petaro, Muslim College Hyderabad and Cantt College Hyderabad.
Mirza was active politically with the PPP from his student days. He was elected the vice president of his college union on the PPP platform. He recalls that, back then, there were no actual units of the Peoples Student Federation.
After graduating with an MBBS in 1980, he joined the Pakistan Army medical corps as a captain. Then, after training from Kakul, Mirza was was posted to the Pakistan Navy.
Mirza is no stranger to controversy and has been landing up in trouble for his strong stands since those days.
He was “thrown out” of the armed forces in 1985 – the year of Gen. Ziaul Haq’s referendum, because he refused to vote.
In the middle of his stint in the services, Mirza got married – a time which he refers dotingly to as “the best part of my life” – in 1982. He would go on to have four children, two sons and two daughters.
He then joined Pakistan International Airlines, where he worked till 1989.
In 1989, Mirza opened up a sugar mill in Badin, during Benazir’s first government. Therein after, Mirza became actively involved in “real” politics.
He first applied for a PPP ticket in 1993, which he contested from Badin – and won a seat to the National Assembly.
He was parliamentary secretary commerce, director of the Pakistan medical and dental council, a member of the International medical parliamentarians association, a member of the then accountability committee, a member of the Kashmir committee as well as a member of the overseas foundation.
Despite his activeness, or perhaps due to it, Mirza would not see the inside of the assemblies till 2008.
He went underground in Pakistan for 12 years due to a number of cases against him. He spent time in different areas of Pakistan, including areas of Punjab and what is now referred to as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
But his wife, Fehmida Mirza, who is currently speaker of the National Assembly, took over from him and won the Badin NA seat in 1997 – the year the PPP won only 17 seats – in 2002 and then in 2008.
Because of her success, Mirza opted to contest for Badin’s provincial assembly seat in 2008, and was made home minister of the province.
COMMENTS (13)
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Danish Ali Ahmad. After reading yours, now I read mine again, buddy. I see clearly that I am endorsing the MQM style LB system and not the old "commisioner" system. I also gave the reasons: How unpractical the "commissioner" system was. Now "To stop mqm......local ills" line was more of a challenge to all. Be happy now!
@sunset did you ever imagine, how stupid that you sound. MQM is fighting for Local bodies. That is the status quo that they(ppp/pmln) want to maintain "avoid any new party taking over" be it MQM or PTI. The commisioner system is the old technique and not MQM but PPP is trying to save it. mqm wants the local bodies election so that people from grass root level may have a say in thier future. and PPP wants a selected commisioner who serve anything but the ministers wills only. to hell with your "to stop mqm"...no body can stop the change now, be it from MQM or PTI.
To stop mqm from slowly taking over whole Sindh & enter Punjab we must reintroduce the only solution of local ills i.e, use the locals living there instead of the commissioners selected by higher politicians far from the troubles areas. Even new candidates cried for LB system to speed-up the control steps for Dengi mosquito virus spread in Lahore. Old political control technique is obsolete & mqm has realized its weakness, we must too before we loose big time.
ZM is the first Pakistani politician who is not afraid of speaking truth.I salute him for his courage and will definitely vote for him or his party in next election and also willing to join his force.
Not a stable and reliable person I see.
@The Truth: What your talking it does not occur in Pakistan may it occurs where you are. What Pakistani politicians do they take money and then Pardons the loans and then take more loan for next sugars mills. The article clearly showed the mindset of person - which is not able, jumping from one profession to other. Doctor - PIA - owner of sugar mills - members of parliament - now sitting with gangster and acting badmash!
@ Truth I want to open sugar mill. Then, help me or give me a plan.
@Siddh, Have you ever heard of borrowing money from friends and family members? Or going to a bank and getting a loan. Its called entrepreneurial spirit, and its something that most of Pakistan's middle class lacks. They would rather take the safety of a government job rather than take a risk on something they believe in. Your immediate reaction to this article and your comment leads me to believe that you probably fit into that category. People like you are what are referred to in pop culture as "haters". Stop hating! If you want a sugar mill of your own call me, I will help you write a business plan. There are a plethora of options for starting your own business in Pakistan.
How did he manage to open a sugar mills from working in PIA???