Cyril Media - A fairy-tale cabinet

Though, unlike the fictional characters, our ministers are not quite so cuddly. Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, PPP MNA from Jacobabad, is the man now responsible for the education of Pakistan’s children. His record is stellar. He is a veteran PPP leader, an LLB from SM Law College and an MA from the University of Karachi. Oh, and he was allegedly involved in a small matter of handing over five girls — the youngest was two, the oldest six — to settle a decade-old karo-kari feud in his area. Good ol’ Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered his arrest in 2007. Bijarani points out though that he was subsequently cleared by a lower court.

There’s more good news for women. Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri, a Balochistan National Party (Awami) man who caused a furore recently by defending karo-kari as a tribal custom, has been rewarded with a ministry. To accommodate Zehri, postal services has been spun off from the communications ministry. So there you have it: Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri, minister for postal services. Women, beware: the confidentiality of your letters is now at risk.