KARACHI – Adore the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) or hate them, you’ve got to admire the love between two of their couples: Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq and Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, and Katchi Abadies Minister Rafiq Engineer and Fisheries Minister Zahid Bhurgari.
And love it was at the Sindh Assembly session on Thursday, and by god, it was sizzling.
Pir Mazharul Haq and Ayaz Soomro are neighbours on the front row of the treasury benches. Soomro, who often has to get to his feet to move resolutions, sits on the aisle – because he also seeks the love and affection of Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the occupant of the bench across Somro’s, whenever he graces the Assembly session with his presence. Finance Minister Murad Shah, however, shares – in fact hogs Haq’s attention with his flashy gadgets, which leaves Soomro to nag the senior minister for more attention approval.
Soomro’s resolution on civil courts was welcomed by most lawyers in the house. Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Shoaib Bukhari was very excited, claiming that an injustice to Karachi had now been redressed. Haq’s excitement was different: he stroked Soomro gently for having paved the path for him to face the lawyers’ fraternity with credit. His honour had not been violated.
Another segment of the treasury benches is shared by the PPP and the MQM. Rafiq Engineer and Fisheries Minister Zahid Bhurgari are neighbours there, but their time together in jail and other struggles has made their relationship rather intimate. Such is the love between the duo that Engineer chided other legislators for the first speech on a proposed fisheries legislation. “I want to speak first because he is my neighbour,” he bellowed. “Me, me, me!” was his request to Speaker Nisar Khuhro.
As it happened, the resolution defined “fisherman” as a “person who earns his livelihood by catching fish from the fisheries and whose primary source of income is the money he sells by earning such fish.” When I asked Speaker Nisar Khuhro about why the term “fisherfolk” had not been used – given that it implies a sense of gender neutrality – he simply responded that the oversight was not intentional. Thursday was the day of love, and I didn’t pester him further.
Soomro, who sought the approval of almost everyone who mattered yesterday after presenting his resolution backing President Zardari, had finally gotten some tangible action from Haq. And words of hot, passionate love from Bhurgari.
Why is this piece reading like a story of devotion and fidelity? Because it doesn’t matter if our legislators are men or women, they are persons. Caan yoouuu feeeel the looove…
