Nasir Shah meets former governor Ishratul Ebad in Dubai

Shah invites former MQM leader to come home play role in politics

KARACHI Oct 26,2021

Sindh Minister for Local bodies Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has met Dr Ishratul Ebad, a former MQM leader and the longest serving governor in Dubai.

PPP provincial minister invited former governor Sindh, Ishratul Ebad to return home and play a role in politics.

Last week a leading Urdu daily published a report with an interview of Ishratul Ebad.

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The report said that MQM leader, former Sindh governor Ishratul Ebad has begun preparations to play an active role in Karachi politics. Some active leaders and stakeholders of Karachi politics have recently met Dr. Ishratul Ebad and persuaded him to play an active role in Karachi politics once again.

He was once MQM supremo Altaf’s blue-eyed boy.

Media reported quoting sources within the MQM-P that the party will keep its doors open for the former governor. In the near future, Dr Ebad will be given a key position in the party, sources added.

Dr. Ishratul Ibad did not deny that before and after the 2018 elections, some influential people had advised him to return to Karachi politics and asked him to take part in active politics, although he did not say what offers and assurances were given to him in this regard but spoke in detail about his tenure as governor.

The report further said that Former Governor Sindh in Karachi at a time when dozens of people were being targeted and kidnapped for ransom were common, gang wars and terrorist activities were on the rise, shutter down strikes were destroying Pakistan’s economy. Credit is given for maintaining peace and stability in Karachi.

The report added that during this period, Dr. Ishratul Ibad was the liaison between law enforcement and political forces. Dr Ishratul Ibad said that the Karachi operation launched immediately after the PML-N came to power in 2013 had the full support of the Center.

Dr. Ishratul Ibad resigned from the post of Governor of Sindh in November 2016 and moved to Dubai immediately due to security concerns and has been residing in Dubai ever since but has a keen eye on the situation in Pakistan.

As a key member of the MQM, he lamented that the party had collapsed on its own after gaining so much for the people of Karachi and urban Sindh.

He said that MQM was a representative party of the middle class of the country but was besieged by a handful of criminals, as a result of which several factions were formed in the party.

He said the party, once considered a national asset, had become a burden to policymakers at the time.

This is not the first time that reports of his return have surfaced. During the 2018 general elections there were rumours that he would launch his own political party.

In 2019, reports emerged after then Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar met Dr Ebad in Dubai. Wasim Akhtar was also the deputy convener of MQM-P and met Dr Ebad with the consent of his party leadership.

Dr Ebad assured the mayor that he would talk to Sindh Minister for Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah so that there is better coordination between Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.