Political turmoil can't keep flower-sellers from looking at a rosy future

Karachi: While trouble on the political horizon generally tends to impact businesses negatively, emergency rule seems to have brought something of a boom for Pakistan's flower-sellers.

With rallies and public meetings eliciting tear-gas and batons from the police, people have found new ways of expressing their sentiments. These include the placing of giant bouquets of fresh flowers outside the homes of deposed supreme court judges, some of whom still remain under virtual house arrest, at the offices of jailed lawyers and outside the studios of television channels which have been forced to close down.

"I am, like most citizens, not happy with the current political situation in the country. But I must admit that for me personally, times have been good because people have been buying huge amounts of flowers to express their solidarity with detained judges," said flower-seller Mohammad Hussain, 50, who does business on a roadside not far from the home of deposed judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday.

A cross-section of society, including lawyers, buy garlands and wreaths almost daily to place outside the judge's gates, says Hussain.

In both Lahore and Islamabad, a campaign has been launched to hand out roses to policemen in riot gear. "I have been selling red and pink roses like hot cakes," says Emaduddin, who set up shop near the Lahore Press Club, a hub for protesters and a base camp of sorts for journalists.

Novel initiatives aimed at strengthening the protest campaign have lent colour and life to the mass movement and has encouraged more and more people to join in. A small, almost festive ceremony takes place outside the towering offices of the Geo Channel, banned by the government, each evening.

Apart from the heaps of bouquets placed on a table that sits outside the building, scores of candles, and lately, Ediyas‚ (earthen oil-filled lamps) are lit as twilight falls.

Music blaring out from loud speakers and messages delivered over screens add to the general air of gung-ho, with many passers-by stopping along the busy Davis Road to check out what is happening. Courier services, have been delivering flowers to at least five judge of the Supreme Court who have been kept confined inside the judicial colony in Islamabad.

Though it is not clear if the flowers actually reach the judges, whose homes have been cordoned off by rings of security, the flower-sellers are not complaining.

"Flowers had lately come to be seen as something of a luxury that could be afforded only for weddings, or other such major events," said Mohammad Hussain. He, however, was only glad to admit that the vibrant new protest theme, coinciding as it did with the marriage season, "is proving to be an excellent season for many of us".