Quashing rumours: Faryal Talpur denies rift with Bilawal

PPP leaders fail to settle dispute over party tickets in Sukkur and Ghotki.

SUKKUR: Dispelling rumours of a rift with her nephew Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Faryal Talpur, sister of President Asif Ali Zardari, said on Sunday that the scion of the Bhutto family was on a routine visit abroad and would return to Pakistan in the next couple of days.

Speaking at a news conference at the president’s camp office in Naudero, Talpur ruled out differences with Bilawal.

Claiming that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was the most popular party of the country, she said that it was not possible to award party tickets to all aspiring candidates who wanted to contest the upcoming elections from the PPP platform.

“In democracy, everybody has the right to contest elections. Therefore, we do not want to deprive anybody of their legitimate right to run for elections,” she said, advising those aspirants who failed to secure a party ticket, to run as independent candidates.

Speaking on the occasion, former federal minister Syed Khursheed Shah asked the media not to complicate the issue, emphasising that only the party had the right to award tickets.



The conference was held after senior PPP leaders met to decide party tickets for disputed constituencies in Sukkur and Ghotki. The meeting was attended by former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Agha Siraj Durrani, Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar among others.

The disputes were related to the Mahar brothers, who at the time of joining the PPP had demanded four seats for their family. These included NA-201 (Ghotki) for Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar, PS-6 (Ghotki) for his brother Ali Nawaz Mahar and PS-8 (Khangarh) for the clan chieftain Sardar Muhammad Bux Mahar.

Former Sukkur district nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, who is an important member of the Mahar group, had demanded the PPP ticket for PS-2 (Sukkur). The constituency, from where former PPP stalwart and member provincial assembly Haji Anwar Mahar, had also filed nomination papers, was given to Shah in view of the promise made with the Mahar brothers.

However, the meeting could not resolve allocation of party ticket for PS-4 (Sukkur), where Khursheed Shah’s nephew and son-in-law Awais Qadir Shah and former taluka nazim Rohri Aslam Shaikh are embroiled in a tug of war.

Earlier, former PML-N members of the provincial assembly from Shaheed Benazirabad, Dr Khan Mohammad Dahri and his brother Bahadur Dahri announced their decision to join the PPP. Congratulating the brothers, Talpur told newsmen that Bahadur Dahri would be awarded the PPP ticket for PS-28 (Shaheed Benazirabad).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.