BADIN: “Whatever our decision, it will surely be in the interest of Badin, and rest of Sindh as well as Pakistan,” said Hussain Mirza, the elder son of Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza, when asked to comment on media reports that his entire family was set to join the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The reports were circulating in the electronic and social media on Friday but the Mirza family neither denied nor confirmed them.

However, sources close to the family revealed that the top PTI leadership was in constant touch with estranged Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Zulfikar Mirza, his spouse and former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza as well as their sons.

While the PTI chief had more than one telephonic contact with the couple, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jahangir Tareen and several other central leaders had met the couple and their younger son, MPA Barrister Hasnain Mirza, in recent days in Karachi and Islamabad, they said.

The sources told this reporter on Friday that the Mirzas were currently consulting their close aides whether to join PTI or not.

They said many of the aides advised them to accept the offer.

However, the elder son, Hussain Mirza, said that a decision was yet to be taken.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2018