PPP's Nabil Gabol joins MQM
Gabol ends his 25-year affiliation with PPP, says Nine-Zero always felt like his second home.
Nabil Gabol. PHOTO: ONLINE/ FILE
KARACHI:
Former MNA Nabil Gabol joined the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Sunday, ending his 25-year affiliation with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Gabol held a press conference at MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in Karachi to formally announce his decision.
“Nine-Zero always felt like my second home… Now I’m saying goodbye to the PPP to join the MQM,” he announced.
Gabol said that the current PPP is not Benazir Bhutto’s party. “The current PPP, in these five years, ignored my constituency Lyari and destroyed it. For three years, I took a stand and warned the party leadership that the situation of Lyari is like a time-bomb which will affect the entire city in the future… But no one listened to me,” he added.
Gabol said that he remained an MNA for the past five years because he was given the ticket by Benazir Bhutto and he wanted to show loyalty to her.
“Since a year, I had been thinking of quitting the PPP and joining a new party, but I could not decide which party to join. All parties invited me but [MQM chief] Altaf Hussain would always personally call me whenever I had a problem,” he said while citing his reasons for joining the party.
MQM deputy convener Farooq Sattar welcomed Gabol to the party. “This step will help narrow down the gap between the ‘new Sindhis’ – the Urdu-speaking people – and the [native] Sindhis. It is a strengthening step towards unity and peace in the province,” he said.
Gabol was elected from a seat in the Lyari constituency in the 2008 elections with 84,217 votes.
Lyari had seen a great deal of political activity under the PPP-led government. In 2011, the Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) had demanded that Gabol resign for his neglect of the constituency. They claimed that the votes were for Benazir Bhutto and not him.
Former MNA Nabil Gabol joined the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Sunday, ending his 25-year affiliation with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Gabol held a press conference at MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in Karachi to formally announce his decision.
“Nine-Zero always felt like my second home… Now I’m saying goodbye to the PPP to join the MQM,” he announced.
Gabol said that the current PPP is not Benazir Bhutto’s party. “The current PPP, in these five years, ignored my constituency Lyari and destroyed it. For three years, I took a stand and warned the party leadership that the situation of Lyari is like a time-bomb which will affect the entire city in the future… But no one listened to me,” he added.
Gabol said that he remained an MNA for the past five years because he was given the ticket by Benazir Bhutto and he wanted to show loyalty to her.
“Since a year, I had been thinking of quitting the PPP and joining a new party, but I could not decide which party to join. All parties invited me but [MQM chief] Altaf Hussain would always personally call me whenever I had a problem,” he said while citing his reasons for joining the party.
MQM deputy convener Farooq Sattar welcomed Gabol to the party. “This step will help narrow down the gap between the ‘new Sindhis’ – the Urdu-speaking people – and the [native] Sindhis. It is a strengthening step towards unity and peace in the province,” he said.
Gabol was elected from a seat in the Lyari constituency in the 2008 elections with 84,217 votes.
Lyari had seen a great deal of political activity under the PPP-led government. In 2011, the Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) had demanded that Gabol resign for his neglect of the constituency. They claimed that the votes were for Benazir Bhutto and not him.