ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: PPP leaders continue to fall like nine pins for the mischievous Begum Nawazish Ali, though Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is said to frown upon her Jiyalas’ affairs.
Senator Rukhsana Zuberi is the latest PPP luminary to be attracted to the flirtatious Begum Nawazish - a television artist who is Ali Saleem in real life.
Sen Zuberi would be the lady’s guest in her Late Night Show of Begum Nawazish Ali television programme to be aired by the Aaj channel on Saturday.
A gender aberration by his own confession, Saleem shot to fame by impersonating Ms Bhutto in a television comedy show several years ago. His mimicking of Benazir displeased many PPP leaders who at one point even contemplated boycotting the TV channel airing the hilarious programme.
That did not happen though and Ali Saleem got addicted to playing a woman. He took on the role of Begum Nawazish Ali, a rich widow who tries to enliven her life - and that of her audience - with her intimate questions and sharp repartees to guests invited to her chat show.
Begum Nawazish’s willing victims include prominent artists, singers and politicians, both male and female - but mostly PPPwalas. Imran Khan and Ghinwa Bhutto are said to have spurned her advances.
PPP leaders of different moods, from rarely smiling Amin Fahim to boisterous Jehangir Badar to poet-lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan to manly Mustafa Khar, have enjoyed the company of Begum Nawazish Ali.
But their youthful colleague Nabil Gabol’s fall for Begum Nawazish could have resulted in a fall from the grace of the Mohtarma. Gabol however saved his skin by pleading that no one ever told him that the PPP lifetime chairperson had declared Begum Nawazish Ali out of bound for her Jiyalas.
The Begum Nawazish Ali Show is popular with people keen to peep into the private lives of public figures and their views on taboos in the society. It is said the Musharraf regime once even threatened to take the show off the air. This may be the reason for the PPP members sitting on the opposition benches like the show.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the PPP president and a right hand man of Ms Bhutto, was the first party leader to appear in the show last August. The host questioned Mr Fahim about his love affairs and friendship. Some partymen however resented their leader sitting with a film actress in the show.
After him his colleagues made a bee-line to Begum Nawazish’s show. Aitzaz Ahsan, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Nisar Khuhro, Sassi Palejo, Jehangir Badar and Nabil Gabol followed Amin Fahim there.
However, Mr Gabol was issued a show-cause notice asking why he participated in the TV show despite party’s ban on it and threatening his expulsion from the party’s Central Executive Council. Mr Gabol replied he was not aware of the ban as it was never communicated to him.
When contacted Sen Rukhsana Zuberi too was not aware of the ban. She said she saw no reason for the party to stop its MPs from appearing in the TV programme.
BB’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar also expressed ignorance about any such decision having been taken by Ms Bhutto in this regard.
Since a show-cause notice was indeed issued to Mr Gabol, Sen Rukhsana Zuberi’s visit to Begum Nawazish will be watched as a test case for other party leaders.
