LAHORE: Soft-spoken Prime Minster Shahid Kahqan Abbasi, who vowed to fulfil unfinished agenda of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has committed a ‘dress coup’ by eschewing the traditional achkan in favour of the Nawaz Sharif’s uniform of shalwar kameez and waistcoat in the oath-taking ceremony.
Does it even matter? Or it was just a co-incident. The answer lies in the history pages. The decorum and protocol of prime minster of Pakistan demands that he or she may come up with achkan in oath-taking ceremony as it reflects the ‘national unity’.
Only two prime ministers in the 70-year history of Pakistan came up with shalwar Kameez as all other wore achkan to give a message that it was a court dress and they belong to nobles. The achkan was worn as everyday wear until late 20th century by general population as well as by the princely states of the Indian subcontinent.
Even though Nawaz Sharif himself chose achkan for his oath-taking in 2013 and each time before in November 1990, May 1993, February 1997.
The answer to this question is Shahid Kahqan Abbasi is a first PM (except Benazir) to take oath in shalwar kameez and waistcoat? We have to look back to history pages.
First prime minister of Pakistan Liaqat Ali Khan black coloured wore achkan in his oath-taking ceremony held on August 14, 1947 in Karachi. Almost all the ministers who took oath wore achkan. Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah also wore achkan on the oath-taking ceremony as governor general.
Second prime minister of Pakistan Khawaja Nazimuddin’s oath-taking ceremony picture was not available but his famous picture standing in achkan with help of walking stick.
No video or visual records were available of swearing in ceremonies of Muhammad Ali Bogra, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar and Feroz Khan Noon.
Eighth Prime Minister of Pakistan who remained premier only for 13 days, Nurul Amin also spotted in achkan dress during the Indo-Pakistan war 1971.
Populist leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who was style icon too for his way of addressing to the people took oath as president and chief martial law administrator on December 1971 and he wore pent coat dress. He was described as a prime minster as workaholic, administer and doer who often wore shalwar kameez when he toured the interior Sindh and small towns of Punjab and Sarhad (Now KPK).
The eleventh prime minster of Pakistan Muhammad Khan Junejo who was Sindhri, a small village in District Sanghar in rural Sindh, and from tribe Junejo also preferred to the oath as PM wearing achkan.
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi took oath as care taker prime minster of Pakistan wearing achkan in August 1990.
Digging out the history we may come to know that 14th PM of Pakistan Zafarullah Khan Jamali took oath on November 2002 and he was the first one who wore shalwar kameez skipping the traditional achkan protocol in oath-taking ceremony. The other one is current PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who broke the tradition.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Mian Muhammad Soomro, Shaukat Aziz, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Mir Khazar Khan Khoso also took oath as prime minister wearing black achkan dresses.
So what comes in mind of current PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to wear Shalwar Kameez.
Fashion designer Nadya Mistry thinks even Prime Minster Shahid Khaqan Abbasi looked like an average Joe in shalwar kameez. She told this scribe that “the outfit was not becoming of the PM. Didn’t give him the grace or authority of the office. He looked like an average Joe!”
Nadya said, “In my opinion nothing can replace a sherwani. Maybe it was self-admittance that he doesn’t have what it may take.” The apparent reason of wearing shalwar kameez in the oath-taking ceremony by Shahid Kahqan Abbasi is to establish an image of ‘people’s premiere’ in the Prime Minister Office.
