HYDERABAD: Defected Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, along with his sister, Adeeba Gul Magsi, returned to the party fold on Thursday, about 19 years after he quit it following the Sept 1996 assassination of Mir Murtaza Bhutto.

An influential political figure hailing from Tando Allahyar, Dr Magsi started his political career from the PPP in the early 90s, though he kept switching sides based on trends.

A handout issued by Chief Minister House on Thursday described Dr Magsi’s rejoining of the PPP as unconditional. “I examined all political parties and their services but none matches that of the PPP,” the handout quoted him as telling a press conference at CM House.

“The PPP was my home and I came back home without any condition.”

Dr Magsi had served as president of Hyderabad district PPP in the early 90s. He is considered to be close to Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and maintained this relationship even after quitting the PPP in 1996. He contested the PS-45 (Tando Mohammad Khan) seat as a PPP-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) candidate but lost.

His father, Raees Allah Bukhsh Magsi, also contested a seat on a PPP-SB ticket and he, too, lost. He later joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

When the PML-N government was toppled on Oct 12,1999 and the sacked prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was put on trial by military chief General Pervez Musharraf, Allah Bukhsh Magsi and his elder daughter, Dr Rahila Gul Magsi (who is now a PML-N Senator) stood with the Sharif family through thick and thin.

Dr Magsi took part in the 2001 partyless local bodies election and became the UC nazim from Chambar. He, however, relinquished the seat to contest the PS-52 seat in the 2002 elections and won. He was made the minister for Auqaf & Ushr by chief minister Ali Mohammad Mahar and then revenue minister by chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

Dr Magsi and Adeeba Gul Magsi contested on the PS-52 and NA-223, respectively, in the 2008 elections but lost. Dr Magsi also lost when he contested on PS-51 in the 2013 elections. He became part of the anti-PPP alliance of the Jatois, Unnars and others but the forum could not survive. Until recently, he had been staying in the US for personal reasons.

There were reports a little before the 2013 elections that Dr Magsi had been trying to persuade his sister, Raheela Magsi, to join the PPP, which had offered them party tickets.

However, serious differences cropped up between them when his sister insisted that her son, Mohsin Abbasi, who at present heads the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) board of directors, should also be accommodated.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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