While it will never replace the salwar kameez in mass popularity, the sari most certainly does not face the risk of extinction either. After all, thereâ€™s nothing like a bare midriff to get the mullahs up in arms. However, politics hasnâ€™t stopped fashionable Pakistani women from once again expressing allegiance to the six yards of fabric that manages to stir up enough controversy amongst right-wing zealots and nationalists alike. Definitely not in election year at least, which is why no woman parliamentarian today goes to the assembly in a sari. It also connotes too much tolerance for India, for political or public figures to be seen in one. The sari is a â€œsofterâ€ image of Pakistan that reveals too much of a womanâ€™s body for an Islamic republic. Politically, thanks to Zia, the sari in Pakistan belongs to a bygone eraâ€”itâ€™s too much of an expression of â€œenlightened moderationâ€, as President Musharraf would put it. But then that was before General Zia came along and officially announced the sari to be â€œun-Islamicâ€.

There was a time when high-profile Pakistani women like Fatima Jinnah, Naheed Mirza and Begum Liaquat Ali Khan, as well as Nusrat Bhutto, wore the sari unapologetically, and with elan. But once upon a time, Pakistani women didnâ€™t need to wear their nationalism literally on their sleeves. It was as if Benazir was dressing herself up in the national flag. A fashion statement it certainly was not, but choosing the salwar kameez over the sari has its uses: it was preferring nationalism over elegance. Benazir opted for the salwar kameez, teamed up always with a green jacket and a white chiffon dupatta, pinned properly to her head. It was a choice her daughter chose not to make. And she was one of the fewer still who dressed in silk saris, a strand of classic white pearls around her neck, while Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was in office. Tall, statuesque and intelligent, Nusrat Bhutto was one of the few First Ladies of Pakistan who were of any consequence to their powerful husbands.

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