SUKKUR, Sept 5: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who is also the president of the Pakistan People’s Party Sindh chapter, on Wednesday welcomed the Mahar brothers of Ghotki back into the party fold, terming the PPP’s policy of reconciliation successful.

It was President Asif Ali Zardari’s political vision that all estranged persons and political parties after negotiations were supporting the PPP in the assemblies, said Mr Shah while speaking at a press conference in the Khangarh area of Ghotki.

Earlier, the Mahar brothers, including Sardar Ali Gohar Khan Mahar, his younger brother and former chief minister of Sindh Ali Mohammad Mahar, former minister of state Raja Khan Mahar and others, announced joining the PPP unconditionally in the presence of a big gathering of their supporters.

With the Mahars joining the PPP, the politicians who predicted that the party’s days in power were numbered were very much disappointed, said Mr Shah. He added that the whole nation knew how successfully the PPP had completed the past four and a half years and overcome the crises the country was facing.

Since its existence, the PPP believed in reconciliation, Mr Shah said, adding that party workers were well aware of this policy.

In politics, there came occasions when people got angry but they could be pacified and allowed to come back through talks as was evident with the announcement by the Mahars to join the PPP in the presence of this large gathering, the chief minister said.

Mr Shah said that the PPP was the country’s biggest political party which was striving for the welfare of the whole country and all the provinces without any discrimination.

He said that since 1947 the role of the Mahar brothers in politics was undeniable. When Ghotki was not a separate district but a part of Sukkur district, the performance of the Mahars was being appreciated in the district council, he said. The chief minister said that the Mahar brothers and the PPP had not parted ways as difference of opinion and opposition was the beauty and part of politics.

He thanked the Mahar community on the occasion.

In reply to a question, MNA Faryal Talpur said that a decision on party tickets for the next elections would be made at the appropriate time.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said that the PPP had no differences with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and they were holding talks in Islamabad and Lahore.

Senator Islamuddin Shaikh, Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, MNAs and MPAs belonging to Sindh came from different parts of the province. Sardars of different communities, a large number of PPP workers, leaders of women wing of the PPP were also present.