Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza is a leader and politician who is affiliated with Pakistan Peoples Party. He hails from the district Badin, Hyderabad. He did his graduation from LMC Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Sindh. He is married to Dr. Fahmida Mirza who was elected as the first female Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan on March 19, 2008.[1] She is also the first female parliamentary speaker in the Muslim world. Zulfiqar Mirza was the Home Minister of Sindh till June 2011.He was assigned the portfolio of Jails and prisons as well as the portfolio of Senior Minister for Works, Services and Forest in Sindh cabinet. He remained member of Provincial Assembly of Sindh, member of PPP Central Executive Committee and Vice President of PPP (Sindh) till 28, August 2011.[2] He acquired his secondary education at Cadet College Petaro in the late 1960s.
He is also the member of the board of directors of Mirza Sugar Mills located in District Badin, Sindh.[3]
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On Sunday, 28 August 2011, Zulfiqar Mirza announced his resignation from the government during an press briefing at the Karachi Press Club. Mirza waved several documents that he said carried the ‘proof’ of the people responsible for the wave of violence in Karachi.[4] He further stated that the MQM does not have a right to 100% mandate in Karachi and Hyderabad, but he would admit that their guns successfully got them (MQM) that mandate. He claimed to have a letter written by Altaf Hussain in 2001 where the MQM chief told then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Altaf Hussain would be willing to support the NATO if the British government helped the MQM to disband the ISI and force changes to the constitution . He also claimed to have personally visited the MQM chief at his residence in London, where Altaf Hussain allegedly told him that the MQM was planning on supporting a ‘secret American plot’ to break up Pakistan. He added that he had moved 20 men – ten of whom were facing the death penalty and ten facing life imprisonment – out of prisons in Karachi to prevent them from running criminal networks from behind bars, but that this effort was foiled by Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad Khan of the MQM,a party run from the United Kingdom, who brought them back to Karachi . He added that 25 ‘known’ target killers were released from jail [5] His press conference was a major event and became major topic of discussion all over Pakistan.
Zulfiqar Mirza left for London claiming that he was going to London along with documents that contained strong evidence that MQM itself is involved in the murder of Dr.Imran Farooq. He claimed while leaving for London that he has proofs against MQM Leader Altaf Hussain that will bring him to jails. On 17 November 2011, Zulfiqar Mirza met with officials of the Scotland Yard. The meeting took place in the office of the Scotland Yard and lasted for an hour. During the meeting, Mirza presented the evidence documents to the Scotland Yard.[6] However, Scotland Yard later termed the documents provided by Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza as unimportant & unconvincing in any regard. The Scotland Yard informed that the documents were some minutes of meetings and telephonic interception about which Mirza claimed he had purchased from his sources and are in relation with Imran Farooq's murder. Scotland Yard said that they found nothing credible in these evidence documents.[7]
Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has said that political gathering of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was an indicator of change in Pakistan and thousands of PPP workers, loyal to Benazir Bhutto and ZA Bhutto, along with Shah Mehmood Qureshi would come out on the streets for a change too. Mirza said that he was still a PPP worker and vowed to fight against corrupt ministers and mafias in the party.[8]