KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari should contest the 2018 general election on a seat from Lyari just as Benazir Bhutto did in the general election of 1988, says senior politician Nabil Gabol, who has recently returned to the Pakistan Peoples Party after years of political bewilderment. This, he says, will help reclaim the party “stature in the area”.Days after rejoining the PPP, Gabol has thought of many strategies to win over the trust of the people with whom he shares a love-hate relationship. This is reflected in Lyari’s Brohi Chowk, a few steps from Gabol Park, where a tilted pamphlet says ‘Go Nabil, Go’, whereas some other parts of Lyari have posters welcoming him.

This division is visible even on the shared Whatsapp group created by the members of the South district of the PPP, where the news of Gabol’s joining the party was met with a stoic response, but created quite a furore during a gathering in Gul Mohammad Lane at the same time.

Speaking to Dawn over the phone, Gabol says: “The people here missed me. They are happy to see me back”. However, during his recent interviews to the media, his stance on cleansing Lyari of criminals reminds representatives and residents alike of his alleged involvement as well as providing patronage to the gangsters associated with the defunct Peoples Aman Committee (PAC). “It wasn’t I but former homer minister Zulfiqar Mirza who owned them (PAC) publicly. I warned the party cadre as well as people associated with Mirza of what that could ensue, and when they didn’t listen, I left the party,” he says.

However, he points out that even though people such as Taj Mohammad, alias Ustad Taju, Mullah Nisar, Sohail and Faisal Pathan, are no longer in Lyari, “there is always a possibility that they might attempt to reclaim their areas”.

Among those who are maintaining their silence on Gabol’s return are former PPP representatives Shakoor Shad and Haji Qasim. After being interviewed by Mr Bhutto-Zardari recently for positions within the district, both candidates are expecting to gain an upper hand within the PPP. About Gabol, Shad says: “I fought against him for the NA-248 seat in the 2008 general election and lost. Apart from that, I don’t want to say anything that goes against party discipline.”

Party insiders say that it was during the elections of 2008 when gangsters such as Abdul Rehman, alias Rehman Dakait, gained political patronage when they were allegedly approached by Gabol to gain a bigger number of votes against Shad. Having worked as former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s bodyguard during the 1988 elections, and being a Peoples Youth member from 1992 to 1993 and as Karachi’s general secretary from the PPP, Shad took the defeat against Gabol personally. For a long time, he told people that it was Gabol who introduced gangsters to politics, an allegation Gabol denies. “These baseless allegations are meant to discredit me,” says Gabol. “But the people want me back. People who lost polls against me and those who sided with the criminals in Lyari are irrelevant to me.”

Another group silently sitting on the sidelines are the MPAs handpicked by PAC leader Uzair Jan Baloch during the 2013 general election. Shahjahan Baloch, Javed Nagori and Saniya Naz have not issued any statements on his return yet, but insiders say they are “prepared to hold whatever is left of their territories in Lyari”. A recent gathering in Gul Mohammad Lane organised by “workers from the area” denounced Gabol’s reentry into Lyari. According to them it would be “a repeat of previous events”. The group also criticised Gabol being surrounded by 10 to 12 young men known as Nabil Gabol Tigers when he last visited the area.

Gabol denies all of this adding that he appeared for most of his media interviews from Lyari. “It is to give off a message that Lyari is still safe and accessible.”

Among the first things Gabol plans to do is to hold a boxing tournament and to invite internationally acclaimed boxer Aamir Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2017