KARACHI (Web Desk) - Former National Assembly Speaker Elahi Bakhsh Soomro is alive as the family sources deny the reports of his death.
A day earlier, several media outlets published the news of his death.
The veteran politician from Sindh is 97. Soomro was born in Sindh's Jacobabad district in 1926.
He got a degree in engineering.
Elahi Bakhsh Soomro became the federal minister for the first time in Gen Zia ul Haq regime. Later, he was elected a member of the National Assembly unopposed in 1985.
He also served as Minister for Information and Broadcasting under Zia ul Haq.
In the 1990 and 1997 elections, he was elected MNA on the ticket of the Pakistan Muslim League. He also became senator several times in different periods.
He joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Q and was named 16th speaker of the National Assembly during the military rule of Pervez Musharaf.
He enjoys close ties with several presidents and prime ministers. It is said that he was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's childhood friend. Former PM Benazir Bhutto used to call him "uncle".
Once, he was also very close to PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.