Multan’s Gilani dynasty dominates parliament

LAHORE:The present National Assembly has set up a unique precedent as it has two siblings, a pair of twins, three real brothers, two real brothers, mother and son and father and son as its members.

National Assembly, the Lower House of national parliament, comprises of three noted political families of the country whose two or more persons are the members of the House. Sharif family has three persons in the National Assembly as MNAs that include sitting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his elder brother and PMLN head Nawaz Sharif and son Hamza Shehbaz.

Gilani family of Multan has three members in the National Assembly, including Abdul Qadir Gilani, Ali Musa Gilani and newly elected MNA of PPP Qasim Gilani. All of them are real brothers and sons of former prime minister and sitting Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. MNAs Ali Musa and Qasim and their one brother Ali Haider Gilani, PPP MPA in Punjab Assembly, were born on the same day - April 10, 1986. In this way, the present NA has twins in form of Ali Musa and Qasim Gilani.

Two members of Zardari family including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his sister Aseeffa Bhutto Zardari are sitting MNAs. Both are children of President Asif Ali Zardari. In this way, two real siblings are part of present National Assembly.

PMLN MNA and State Minister for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik and his mother Shaista Pervaiz Malik are also MNAs. In this way, the present NA also has a mother and son as its members. Similarly, Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz are the members of the present National Assembly, which shows that like mother and a son, the same House also has a father and a son as its members. This is a unique precedent that has never been witnessed in the country’s history before.