This included flying of Pakistan flag on his car
RAWALPINDI: During the meeting between the visiting First Lady of Turkey, Mrs Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mrs Kalsoom Nawaz, the latter was also being referred to as the First Lady of Pakistan. This became rather conspicuous when, during the meeting with the wife of President Mamnoon Hussain, she was referred to as Mrs Mamnoon only. As per the universal protocol the ‘first lady’ is the wife of the head of the state or president and not of the head of government.
The strange practice in Pakistan owes its birth to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who, while stepping down from the presidency to the premiership in 1972, brought all the presidential head of the state protocol with him to the Prime Minister House. This included flying of Pakistan flag on his car, playing the national anthem at his official appearances, a brigadier/major general military secretary, a couple of additional deputy commissioners and similar some other presidential perks and privileges, not forgetting the first lady title. In no other democratic country of the world, including India, is the prime minister entitled to any such privileges. But Pakistan is Pakistan.
Colonel (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2016.
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