Ostentatious weddings

Nobody can fault Panjab Assembly for passing a Bill aimed at discouraging lavish expenditure on marriage ceremonies in the province but the big question is this:who is going to implement it? It is the elite, the filthy rich, the parvenus, the notables with connections in the corridors of power who indulge in extravagant marriage ceremonies to the extent that they get even the wedding invitation cards printed from Dubai. No one in his wildest dream can even think of police booking them under relevant law, much less arresting them.
This is also not the first time that a willingness is shown by the legislators to force people to contain expenditure on marriage ceremonies within a reasonable limit. One remembers Ayub Khan’s times when for the first time in the history of this country one-dish formula was implemented in the wedding receptions. It, however, turned out to be short-lived. A law is not worth the paper it is written on if the government functionaries whose job it is to see it implemented do not come down with a heavy hand on those who violate it. Isn’t it a fact that aerial firing is indulged into in almost every marriage ceremony? Can it be denied that ambroisal food is served in wedding receptions? Aren’t the houses of bride and bridegroom excessively illuminated wasting a lot of electricity? Are the household items, clothes and jewellery given as dowry exhibited in order to show off?
There are many laws in our statute books which have never been implemented. Their status is not more than a showcase. While nobody doubts the intention of the Panjab government for passing this law, its benefit can reach the civil society only if there is an equal will on its part to implement it in letter and spirit also. There is an Arabian proverb that the common man follows what his rulers do. The ruling class, whether they are politicians, high-ranking bureaucrats, both civil and military, judges of the superior courts and persons of their ilk will have to first implement this law in the marriage ceremonies held in their families if the government wants it to gain currency in the country.