Important member of Mahar clan reiterates association with PPP

With rumors circulating fast that the famous Mahar brothers of the Ghotki district would part ways with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the 2018 general elections, an important member of the Mahar clan on Sunday reiterated his association with and commitment to the PPP and announced he would contest the election on the party’s electoral symbol of “arrow”.

Former sports minister Sardar Mohammad Bux Khan Mahar called on PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at the Bilawal House and apprised him about the political situation in Ghotki.

Bilawal said that he would visit Ghotki and address a public meeting there during his party’s election campaign across the country. Sardar Mahar pledged that he would contest an election on the platform of the PPP and was confident that the party would be given a massive mandate by the masses.

With Sardar Mahar deciding to remain with the PPP, the Mahar clan could witness a virtual political split during the upcoming general elections, as the rest of the Mahar brothers could announce their joining the anti-PPP Grand Democratic Alliance or the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

In this regard, an important member of Ghotki’s clan, former MNA Ali Gohar Khan Mahar, has yet to make up his mind about joining a political party or an alliance to contest the general elections.

Several recent attempts by the PPP to placate the Mahar brothers and to persuade them to shun their differences with the party’s leadership all remained futile. The political differences in this regard became quite obvious during the March 2018 by-election in a Sindh Assembly constituency, PS-7, in the district, where the Mahar brothers objected to the PPP decision to award the ticket to a new candidate who was not a favourite of them.

At that time, several media reports suggested that some members of the Mahar clan had supported the candidate of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, who ultimately lost the poll.

Election board

The Central Election Board of the Pakistan Peoples Party held a meeting to discuss nominations of the party candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the next general elections at the Bilawal House on Saturday.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former president of Pakistan and PPPP President Asif Ali Zardari chaired the meeting. Among those who attended the meeting were former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farhatullah Babar, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Faryal Talpur, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Sherry Rehman, PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Humayun Khan, Faisal Karim Kundi and Senator Khanzada Khan.