Qabza versus occupy are lost in translation in assembly

KARACHI:

What is the difference between qabza and occupy? MPAs in the Sindh Assembly were lost in translation on Tuesday afternoon, when a question about Sindh House in Islamabad used the words ‘occupy’ and ‘qabza’ in the English and Urdu versions of the day’s questions and answers.

MPA after MPA arose to ask why exactly had some government officials ‘seized’ the rooms in the Sindh House, while ministers such as Ayaz Soomro, Agha Siraj Durrani and Murad Ali Shah attempted to explain that the words occupy and qabza had different connotations.

Durrani had a better idea – he told Speaker Nisar Khuhro that perhaps the secretariat staff should do a better job of translating. Khuhro’s reply: perhaps the answer should have been explained better and the entire debate would never have arisen.

After the question and answer session was over, MPAs continued with their scheduled speeches about the late prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. But as the speeches continued, many of the MPAs disappeared from the assembly and only made it back once the resolution paying tribute to Bhutto on his 84th birth anniversary was passed.

But by then it was 2 pm, and most assembly members were straining at the leash to go home. The only ones resisting were the few MPAs who had prepared resolutions to present on Tuesday, which was originally private member day. MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi rose to complain, only to be cut short – again – by PPP MPA Rafique Engineer. The Abbasi-Rafique tiff has been going on for several sessions now, and on Tuesday Abbasi seemed tired of him referencing her in his speech without using her name. She burst out, ‘Which sister of yours do you keep talking about?’

The MPAs then spent another productive 20 minutes or so discussing when they would meet next. The entire conversation, including sighs of ‘No’, was reminiscent of a schoolteacher trying to reschedule a class. Khuhro said he would summon the assembly on Saturday. However, schoolchildren would have been easier to persuade than the MPAs, and Khuhro looked defeated by the end of the discussion as he adjourned the session till Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2012.