Did Shireen Mazari refer to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq as ‘yaar’?

ISLAMABAD: Laughter echoed in the National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Shireen Mazari allegedly referred to NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq as ‘yaar’ (friend).

When Mazari finished her speech on the floor of the Lower House of Parliament regarding human trafficking, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Shaikh Salahuddin drew the speaker’s attention to the matter.

Salahuddin claimed the PTI leader addressed Sadiq using the colloquial sub-continental term ‘yaar’. The term has been defined in the Oxford dictionary as a noun to refer to a ‘familiar form of address: friend, mate’.

The NA speaker who is held in high respect and commonly referred to as “Janaab-e-Speaker”, asked Mazari to explain if she called him ‘yaar’.

This resulted in a rather hilarious exchange as the PTI leader asked the NA speaker if he called her ‘yaar’. “I did not call you ‘yaar’ you called me that,” Ayaz Sadiq responded, adding that he wouldn't dare to do that. 

“Why will I call you ‘yaar’, I call you speaker,” Mazari laughed as the assembly broke out into laughter.

As Mazari continued to joke, she once again referred to the speaker as ‘yaar’ and Sadiq was quick to point it out this time.

However, the PTI leader denied calling him ‘yaar’ a second time as well. “I was only responding to your question and asking why will I call you ‘yaar’,” she maintained.

When the speaker asked her fellow party leaders, Asad Umar and Shafqat Mehmood, seated behind her to ascertain whether she said it or not, Mazari responded, “I can call them both ‘yaar’, why will I call you that.”

PTI's Shah Mehmood Qureshi also joined in the banter and in an apparent reference to Mazari's statement of calling Umar and Mehmood 'yaar', questioned, "If we can become friends with those sitting behind us then why not with those sitting in front of us." 

Sadiq refers to Mazari as older sister much to her dismay

The speaker then dismissed the matter stating Mazari is “a friend and like an elder sister.”

Sadiq's statement led to another objection as Mazari wasn't pleased to be referred to as an "elder sister".

To add salt to her wounds, the NA speaker responded to her objections saying, "I have seen your ID card and you are older than me."

Settling the matter, Sadiq said, "Okay fine, you can become a younger sister. Just don't use words like 'yaar' again."

Mazari agreed to the suggestion.