LARKANA: Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, a former PPP MPA who had parted ways with the party after developing differences with leadership, has made an overture to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, saying doors of dialogue are never closed in politics.

The head of Abbasi family, which had been associated with Pakistan Peoples Party since the party’s inception in the ’60s, said during an informal talk with journalists at Larkana Press Club on Wednesday that if PPP chairman Bilawal approached the Abbasi family and offered condolence over the death of Begum Dr Ashraf Abbasi, then the family too would try to mend fences with the party.

“If Bilawal initiates talks, we will respond on the basis of contents of his talk. Abbasi family’s response will be collective in accordance with the family’s track record of taking unanimous decisions,” he said.

He said that his son Moazzam Abbasi, Dr Safdar Abbasi who now headed Pakistan Peoples’ Party-Workers and he himself were on the same page and their decisions would be collective.

He said the family had been invited to attend a meeting of Grand Democratic Alliance on Oct 22 at Kingri House in Karachi to discuss prevailing political situation and future strategy in Sindh.

“Larkana Awami Ittehad will present its future line of action in upcoming elections in Larkana district. All component parties of LAI have agreed upon fielding unanimous candidates against PPP,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said in answer to a question that if elections were held in a free and fair manner, the PPP would have to face tough time in the province. Many feudal lords had recently joined PPP in the hope that they would get a piece of pie after elections but they would find it difficult even to get party tickets, he said.

He said history bore witness to the fact that anyone who swept polls in Punjab ruled the country. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari formed government at Centre after making agreements with other parties, he said.

About PPP candidates’ defeat in by-elections, he said that PPP’s popularity had waned in Punjab while sardars had always ruled Balochistan. He said that Dr Safdar Abbasi had yet not received a letter of expulsion from the party. Abbasi family’s contributions to PPP were not hidden from anyone, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017