Sindh’s political scene over the last five years was mostly dominated by dull, grey characters. However, one leading politician from the province set himself apart. But it was not on the strength of his political prowess or legislative feats, but because of his fiery, ill-timed and politically incorrect outbursts.

This man, of course, was Zulfiqar Mirza MBBS, the former home minister of Sindh.

While the lawlessness and violence that plagued Sindh was evidence of the fact that that Mirza Sahib’s tenure as home minister from 2008 till mid-2011 was less than stellar, his loud diatribes — most often targeting the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and former federal interior minister Rehman Malik — were the verbal equivalents of Scud missiles: they struck with devastating effect, even if they fell a little short of the intended targets.

One of the main causes of animosity between Dr Mirza and the MQM was the former’s support for the People’s Amn Committee (PAC), an organisation based in Karachi’s troubled Lyari area which has reported links to the underworld. Yet the PAC is also considered to be an offshoot of the PPP and Zulfiqar Mirza made no bones about his affection for the group.

In fact in March 2011, while still home minister, Dr Mirza defended the PAC by comparing the group to a “welfare organisation”, while he had also said that the body contained committed PPP workers. Of course the MQM, which had no love lost for the PAC, did not agree with Mirza Sahib’s description of the group as a philanthropic organisation, and repeatedly alleged that the good doctor was sheltering “criminals”.

Zulfiqar Mirza’s beef with the MQM exploded in a most ugly fashion in public when, at a dinner hosted by Sindh ANP leader Shahi Syed in July 2011, the doctor delivered a venomous diatribe against the MQM, in which he also appeared to take potshots at the Urdu-speaking community as the TV cameras rolled. The reaction in urban Sindh was instant and expectedly violent, and this rather unwise speech would culminate in Mirza Sahib’s resignation from his position within the PPP as well as his Sindh Assembly seat in August 2011.

Yet the resignation speech was equally vitriolic and contained even more serious allegations against the Muttahida, while also unleashing a blistering volley aimed at Rehman Malik.

Following his resignation Dr Mirza drifted away from the limelight as well as the PPP mainstream. In November 2011 he was attacked by unidentified men with iron rods in Manchester after attending a ceremony with Lord Nazir Ahmed. The good doctor was fortunately unhurt, though many felt his Karachi battles had followed him to the UK. In September 2012 it was reported that Mirza Sahib’s good friend President Asif Ali Zardari paid him a visit at home, which was seen as being a rapprochement.

Looking ahead, at the time this was written Zulfiqar Mirza had no plans to run for the 2013 elections. However his wife, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza, is contesting for an NA seat, while his son Hasnain Mirza, who had earlier won his father’s Sindh Assembly seat on a by-election, is again gunning for the provincial assembly.

Dr Mirza may be lying low for the moment, but the tough-talking PPP stalwart cannot be counted out and may just return to the political limelight over the next five years.