KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday paid a visit to Lyari, once considered a PPP heartland in Karachi, in an attempt to ensure that the residents of the crime-infested locality attend the Oct 18 rally in large numbers.

“It was a sudden decision by chairman Bilawal to head into Lyari after he prayed at the shrine of Shah Dulha Sabzwari in Kharadar,” said a party leader while speaking to Dawn.

But political workers who live in Lyari insisted Mr Bhutto-Zardari wanted to reclaim the PPP stronghold where last year his party had to nominate candidates for the general election on the strength of the recommendation of gangsters then holding sway — and now at loggerheads with each other — in the neighbourhood.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to parts of Lyari — including Khadda Market, Nawabad and Shah Waliullah Road — surprised roadside vendors, shopkeepers, women who were out for errands and children playing the ubiquitous table football in the open.

He spoke to some old party supporters in the neighbourhood and chit-chatted with women shoppers at a convenience store. He also asked roadside vendors prices of fruit and vegetables.

“People of Lyari have been our benefactors, a fact always acknowledged by my mother. You have given huge sacrifices in the past and now it is my turn to deliver to you,” said Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2014