Going Ga Ga over Ms Rabbani!

It is not very often that Pakistan gives the Indian public a reason to smile. The last one was a stand-up comic called Shakeel who made us laugh with his one-liners in ‘Comedy Circus’ on Sony TV. So when the 34 year old glamorous Ms Hina Rabbani Khar arrived in India as Pakistan’s Foreign minister, the Indians sat up and took notice. I don’t remember who was the last Pakistani diplomat to have visited India; not that I care. Visits of innumerable diplomats from either side has not made as much as an iota of change in the Indo-Pak relationship, and after Pakistan back-stabbed India in the wake of AB Vajpayee’s brave bus diplomacy, I have trained myself to see diplomatic meetings not more than a mere eye-wash. Perhaps some of the Indian news channels agree with me and that is why, after deliberating ever so briefly on the political aspect of Ms. Rabbani’s visit, the contrasting dullness of our own aging SM Krishna notwithstanding, they immediately focused on the persona of the visiting lady. She is young, beautiful, fit (after three children), and has a style-statement of her own. The media went ga ga over her accessories- cool shades; a showy watch and a beautiful ring; a glistening white Hyderabadi-pearl necklace to go with her pristine white dress; and a pair of high-heeled shoes to enhance her already tall stature. The hand-bag she carries is rumored to be worth seventeen lacs rupees! Though, perhaps, owing to her status as a visiting diplomat, she hid her figure beneath layers of loose clothing, she made the best out of what she could reveal- after deliberately leaving a loose lock of hair in the front, she swept it away ever so gracefully every time it fell on her forehead- and this must happened a hundred and forty three times in the whole of yesterday!  Knowing perfectly well what the Indian public would want to know about her, she teased by not playing into the hands of the prying media. When Ritul Joshi of ‘Aaj Tak’ tried to get casual with her by asking some questions about her appearance, she carefully ducked them and answered only in political terms.

But she is not where she is, because of her glamour. Educated in the University of Massachuechets, she is the daughter of a politician- Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar, and niece of Ghulam Mustafa Khar (those who have read Tehmina Durrani’s ‘My Feudal Lord’, would know that Ghulam Mustafa Khar was a monster of a husband, and an astute politician). Her family is one of the richest in Pakistan, having business interests in almost all lucrative areas. She also co-owns a posh restaurant which is run by her businessman husband. With almost everything on her side- age, persona, pedigree and education, I hope she achieves for Indo-Pak relationship what her worthy predecessors failed to; though she did leave a mark of being the astute Pakistani politician-in-making by meeting up with the Kashmiri separatist leaders- Geelani, Mirwaiz et al, irking the Indian authorities no end. Now they can’t decide if she is more salty or more chilly!