Islamabad: Gold-trimmed SUVs idle outside the parliament. Among new female lawmakers, Muslim veils are out and Gucci bags are in.

Civilian rule has returned to Pakistan, and its politicians have come back with bling.

Last month s elections ushered into parliament a new crop of business leaders and wealthy elites opposed to US-backed President Pervez Musharraf s one-man rule.

The new body is headed by followers of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - secularists who have vowed to fight Islamic extremism.

Many are also veterans of a series of civilian governments that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s.

Eight years after Musharraf took over in a military coup, they re back in power, accessories and all.

"It s their cars, their fashion. They have all the latest models," said Sana Asad, a Pakistani journalist covering parliament. "They re richer and more secular."

"Perhaps it s because they re connected to the previous administrations - the wealthy elites," she said.

Parliament s parking lot was crowded with new sports utility vehicles festooned with flashy tire rims and hood ornaments. Women in bright colours clogged past in heels and huge sunglasses. Bodyguards fanned out.

In the last parliament, about a dozen female lawmakers from the religious alliance wore body-shrouding black veils that concealed everything except their eyes.

But as parliament elected its first female speaker today, just a single lawmaker - one of 74 women in the 342-seat house - covered her face with a light beige wrap. Others wore traditional flowing gowns, some with bare heads and others with their hair only partially covered by loose scarves.

Source : PTI