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Posted By Robert Zeliger
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 5:07 PM
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She's young, stylish, sharp and pretty, and Indians are falling for her. Yep, it seems that Pakistan's new 34-year-old foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, has accomplished what years of tense diplomacy haven't been able to -- create some genuine goodwill between the two constantly sparring nations. In her first official visit today to India since taking over the foreign ministry last week, Khar met with her Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna. The two agreed to boost security, trade, transportation, travel, and cultural links between the countries -- in what analysts called some of the most productive talks between the two sides since Pakistani militants killed 166 people in Mumbai three years ago. But it's her youth and glamour that are credited with creating a "fresh start atmosphere." She later met with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But who really cares what happened behind closed doors. More importantly: she got high marks for wearing Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, classic pearl and diamond jewelry, a blue designer dress, and toting an Hermes Birkin bag. And thus ladies and gentleman, a glamour icon is born. We give it three months before Vogue comes calling... wait, maybe two.
Indian papers and news programs today gushed over Khar, praising her beauty and style. The Times of India headlined their front page story: "Pak Puts On Its Best Face." The Navbharat Times said the country was "sweating over model-like minister." The Mail Today said she had brought a "Glam touch to Indo-Pak talks" and asked, "Who says politicians can't be chic?" These are not the usual superlatives Pakistani diplomats are used to getting in the Indian press.
Of course, not everything was picture perfect. The Indian press did attack her for meeting with a Kashmiri separatist group later in the day.
But overall, it was hard not to sense the generational shift as Khar spoke about "a new generation of Indians and Pakistanis [who] will see a relationship that will hopefully be much different from the one that has been experienced in the last two decades" after meeting with the Indian foreign minister who -- through no fault of his own, save for his misfortune of being born 79 years ago -- did totally look like her grandfather.
As Seema Goswami, a leading Indian social commentator, put it, "She's incredibly young pretty, glamorous and has no fear of appearing flash. She wore pearls when she arrived and diamonds for the talks. We're so obsessed with her designer bag and clothes that we forget she first held talks with the Hurriyat [Kashmiri separatists]. She could be Pakistan's new weapon of mass destruction."
Let them eat cake, only time until she flees with her husband
and lives in Europe with their Swiss bank account.
Yeah, this woman who is wearing "Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, classic pearl and diamond jewelry, a blue designer dress, and toting an Hermes Birkin bag" is just PERFECT to represent Pakistan! I mean all those people in Islamabad, the North West Frontier Province, they all must be decked out in Hermes' bags and gold jewelry too!
Pakistan has people selling their kidneys on the black market and this woman is out parading in designer goods pretending she earned her job (can we all say nepotism) and that she represents the nation.
Did you know that her "credentials" is that she attended Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst, which is not a great school over here for hospitality! Hospitality is basically a business degree. I wonder what she's going to offer Minister Krishnan (pictured above with Ms. Khar) some complimentary bath towels?
Representing her people? Hardly.
No, she doesn't have to dress in rags. However, being that ostentatious is simply ridiculous. No one says don't dress nice. Just don't be a "paris hilton" style diplomat, that sparks this kind of debate to begin with.
Second, India might have many poor, but at least it's a functioning democracy, that doesn't face the threat of being overrun by backwards pushtun refugees coupled with Islamic fanatics.
Also, need we remember that India kicked Pakistan's ass in every single war they ever fought. Not just kicked their ass but destroyed Pakistan and split it into two (Bangladesh). And Pakistan's only response is to send terrorists to kill Indian civilians in hotels. Wow, what brave people! What balls it must take to kill a bunch of Indian women in a hotel. Pathetic.
Oh Yes, Hina Rabbani Resembles Paris Hilton
This usual India-Pakistan mud fest is so boring.
Well, Paris Hilton did babble few interesting things:
I definitely think that fashion is a form of art and love that people can express themselves through what they wear.
The only rule is don't be boring.
I don't want to be known as the granddaughter of the Hiltons. I want to be known as Paris.
I got my eye on you boy, and when I get my eye on something, it's like search and destroy.
Every woman should have four pets in her life. A mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.
People can't believe how hard I work.... I love it. I think it just runs through my veins. My great-grandfather was a bellboy and had a dream to do a hotel chain, so I think I get it from him.
But, her clothing is very disrespectful to her own countrymen
Her clothing - as garish as it is to some of here in Boston - will alienate her illiterate countrymen. The plurality of women in her nation and ethnicitiy (she's a Pashtun from the Punjab province) can't read, and they always are covered up in that very patriarchal society. Never mind that her outfit for a day - those expensive glasses, purse, scarf, etc. - costs MORE THAN $1000, WHICH IS MORE THAN THE PER CAPITA INCOME OF PAKISTAN - the women of her nation don't dress like that, nor do they appreciate this uber Western outfit.
>>>Her clothing - as garish as it is to some of here in Boston - will alienate her illiterate countrymen. The plurality of women in her nation and ethnicitiy (she's a Pashtun from the Punjab province) can't read, and they always are covered up in that
I was thinking the same thing. In the good old days, the elites were allowed to be "westernized", and the masses were conservative. This was because the consensus was that modernization, as in separation of religion and state, equal rights for women, etc was a good thing and that the nation was moving incrementally towards that goal, even if some people were not on board yet. And the people who were not on board had a proper sense of their backwardness and probably muttered darkly into their beards, but otherwise did not interfere.
Now with political Islam and the newly found freedom to live out one's atavistic impulses, and fatwas and assassinations, it's impressive that this FM allowed herself to be photographed shaking a man's hand. Time will tell what the impact will be. It wasn't too long ago that a woman Pak minister was forced to resign for hugging someone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6682969.stm
Again, its just nepotism at work
in a country with no social mobility.
It will only be a matter of time before she and her husband seek asylum in some European country and start to take money out of their Swiss (or Dubai) based bank account.
It's great, so now we have a pretty face to
deny (laughably) any Pakistani government involvement in sending terrorists in to India.
And we have a pretty face to deny (again, laughably) any official Pakistani support for Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
While I respect any debate on the legitimacy of her qualifications, her value as a civil servant, or the potential efficacy of her policies, I think it is unfortunate that her attire is the most contentious issue. If she were a man, we would be talking about his policies not what suit he chose to wear.
Boston Liberal- That woman better have sone really good bodyguards.
Again, we've seen the media perpetuating the same stereotypes and prejudice about women: it's all about her outfit and beauty, not what she had accomplished (or not) as foreign affairs minister.
About Beautiful & Fashionable Hina and 100,000 Dead in Kashmir
It is yet to seen, if the brief given by Pakistani Army to the young and beautiful foreign minister is also fresh and optimistic as she seems to be.
Nevertheless, a Foreign Minister dressing like a fashion icon, model or a cine star does signal personal proclivities and skewed priorities of making a glamorous statement.
Our troubled Pakistani friends must stop peddling fiction and drama staged by that ISI stooge Fai
In the last 21 years, 43,460 people have been killed in the Kashmir insurgency. Of these, 21,323 are militants, 13,226 civilians killed by militants, 3,642 civilians killed by security forces, and 5,369 policemen killed by militants.
At the same time, about 400,000 Pundits were forced to be refugees in their own country.
Our friends also, must not forget what their brave soldiers did to those poor Bengali's in the former east Pakistan.
The genocide claimed any where between 300,000 t0 3 million deaths..
The media always love a new pretty face, especially when she's still under 40.
Filthy Rich Fashion-Conscious Pakistani Foreign Minister
Don't miss the wood for the trees. The real India does not consist of the shallow and fashion conscious, some of who take to twitter and face book. Indians prefer substance and simplicity over high-end accessories. These people come into politics only to showcase their wardrobes and for fame. A people's representative cannot be one who is totally unlike the people he/she represents. What business do people whose bread and butter does not come from their work have in politics? They are there with ulterior motives and to serve their own bloated egos. Spare a thought for the victims whose limbs were blown apart and lives cruelly cut short in Mumbai by terrorism central - Pakistan. Despite all her high-end accessories, she still represents a poor, largely illiterate, failed-rogue-state, where people's minds are so warped that they cannot think one single thought for themselves but must resort to terrorism to sustain themselves and their families. 26/11 terrorists did not know how to use a faucet at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. They were brain-washed country bumpkins sent across to die by the Pakistani state.
The Beautiful women. She got high marks for wearing Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, classic pearl and diamond jewelry, a blue designer dress, and toting an Hermes Birkin bag.
Cord Blood | Upcoming Phones
Pakistan’s glamorous new foreign minister wows India
“Pak bomb lands in India,” joked the Mumbai Mirror tabloid in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the history of wars between the countries and attacks by Pakistani militant groups on Indian soil. In a rarity for the Indian media, not known for assessing the dress-sense of previous Pakistani visitors, the Mail Today tabloid devoted extensive space to her choice of outfit as she flew in to Delhi airport. “The 34-year-old minister scored full marks on the fashion front when she was spotted at the Delhi airport in a monotone outfit of blue — the colour of the season,” it said. “Tasteful accessories, Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, oversized gianna michaels bag and classic pearl jewellery, added a hint of glamour to her look,” it added. The Telegraph newspaper meanwhile compared fresh-faced Khar, a married mother of two who caused a stir at home after being photographed in tight jeans, with her elderly counterpart SM Krishna.“In the unkind world of adjectives, the odds are stacked against SMK and in favour of HRK,” it said, using the ministers’ initials. “Khar carries with ease descriptions such as ‘stunning’ and ‘petite’.”
When she was the First Lady she visited over 80 countries which seems like experience to me. I suspect he chose her because of the success around the world that the Clinton's have. They pull a great deal of weight. Bill Clinton weather you like him or not has raised Billions of dollars for poor countries around the world. Obama is trying to restore our standing in the world and he knows Hillary (and Bill) can help. Personally I think it was a brilliant move. RIO She may not have a huge amount of experience in negotiating but she commands a huge amount of respect around the world..
Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.
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