Style vs substance

(bdnews24.com, July 29, 2011)

The Indian media has been buzzing madly with news and views on the visit of Hina Rabbani Khar to India. She landed at Delhi airport a few days ago with all the noise and fanfare that only a young and good looking woman from a traditionally male-dominated country with a history of hostility with our nation can drum up.

We the media, in various ways and various means, were waiting with anticipation and breath baited (literally) with speculation, and came up with all sorts of reasons for her appointment as foreign minister of Pakistan, known more for its restrictive Islamist attitudes towards the fairer sex rather than equality or even any degree of suffragette-like freedom.

Most believe that it is cosmetic — a token gesture to please the western world who expects sexual parity, at least to some extent. Some believe that it is due to the fact that Ms Khar comes from a very wealthy and extremely influential family, which could help the political balance in Pakistan tip in favour of those connected with that same family. And a few believe that she actually will do the nation and its rather troubled image some good, that she is a shrewd politician, a sharp operator and a very clever negotiator with carefully honed skills in observation and analysis.

And her speeches have certainly been clever and careful. She arrived in India last Tuesday to meet and talk to Indian foreign minister SM Krishna, with the optimistic statement hoping that India and Pakistan can “move forward… that these two countries have learnt lessons from history, but are not burdened by history and we can move forward as good, friendly neighbours who have a stake in each other’s future and both the countries understand their responsibilities to the region and within the region”, she said, with doubtful English but earnest intent.

And the meeting and talking was with some focus on bilateral issues, from confidence building between the two nations, to India’s concerns on terror attacks and on the Jammu and Kashmir argument (to put it mildly). Ms Khar is understood to have said to the Pakistan media that she and her government are looking forward to “pro-active, productive and result-oriented engagement” with our nation on everything that is planned for discussion.

Along the way, peace has always held centre stage. According to Ms Khar, both India and Pakistan are determined to commit to an “uninterrupted and uninterruptible peace process”, something that is often and tragically interrupted at frequent intervals by a terrorist incursion and attack on (usually) Indian soil, leaving us as a people and a nation stunned and shocked to the point that any trouble that cannot be accounted for as perpetrated by any single individual is automatically and inevitably blamed on Pakistan, its government, its government-supported militants or anything in that context.

So the meeting that Ms Khar had with the Hurriyat leaders could be a matter for concern, though the powers-that-be insist that it will have no effect on the peace process in general. According to the Dawn, “What Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and SM Krishna, her Indian counterpart, have achieved arouses hopes for a tension-free relationship between the two South Asian neighbours.” We can only keep our fingers crossed that media optimism is indeed made concrete with deed rather than merely word.

In this very sunny environment, however, there is a note of caution that needs to be sounded, clear and very loud. The media in India, whether local or international, seem to prefer seeing Ms Khar as a glamorous female presence rather than a woman of substance, one who was in India for a definite, important and very necessary process. Her star power, her fashion statement, her sunglasses…all theses became much more important than why she was actually here.

As one scathing and well-deserved editorial said, “Just how little was achieved at the summit is demonstrated by the fact that the talks themselves were a sideshow obscured by Khar’s star power. In just one day, she has become a bona fide celebrity in India, not for her diplomatic skills but for her looks, sense of style and pricey handbags.” Ms Khar’s presence was made notable for her Birkin bag, especially, which bodes well for the just-opened Hermes store in South Mumbai’s elite shopping precinct, but not happy for the diplomatic raison d’etre of her visit.

What is encouraging is that Ms Khar herself is not especially happy with her positioning as a ‘fashion icon’. She is reported to have been quite annoyed at the coverage in the press for her style and attitude, saying that “You see paparazzi are everywhere. Besides, you (media) should not do such acts.” And thereafter she refused to answer any more questions. So is she serious about her diplomatic intent doubted during her visit to India? We give her the benefit of the doubt, but wonder, especially since she does not have the experience that a diplomat ideally needs for this delicate job. But the Wall Street Journal said it all, with “From her blue tunic pants ensemble to her Roberto Cavalli shades, everything grabbed Indian eyeballs, with media coverage of her accessories practically overshadowing the India-Pakistan dialogue….”

And at the end of it all, the Hermes Birkin bag grabbed more headlines with the general public than Ms Khar did as foreign minister of Pakistan. And that, amazingly, amusingly, is how that cookie crumbled.