 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
|
 |
| Something different |
|
|
|
Sunday, November 01, 2009
It was different, that at least can be said. Would we find our own politicians on the end of some aggressive questioning by leading journalists? Or fielding some toughies from a ‘Town Hall’ meeting of professional women most of whom looked like they could bite the head off live crocodiles? Walking the dangerous streets of Lahore (albeit with the kind of security that demands that stray mice use a swipe card to get through the gates)? The answer is no. It is difficult to recall any of our politicians interacting with a wider public in recent years – on the streets, in a Town Hall or in a studio with the more reptilian members of the Fourth Estate. In that sense it was an object lesson our own leaders and elected representatives might do well to ponder. As a PR exercise and the creation of an illusion of debate and dialogue, Ms Clinton’s recent visit was a triumph of style over content – at least in the public domain. It was carefully stage-managed from start to finish and what we saw was a woman who has eased herself into the role vacated by Condoleezza Rice – who never got much closer to the public than playing cello and piano onstage. Ms Clinton by contrast was well briefed and had a lawyerly way of answering questions that left you wondering if she had actually answered the question she was asked - or had answered a question she had asked herself unspoken.
There were hints of what might have passed between Ms Clinton and her interlocutors in some of the grittier exchanges, and she occasionally gave a glimpse of the mailed fist inside the velvet glove. She was frankly sceptical about ‘nobody in government’ knowing where Al Qaeda is currently hanging its hat. She hinted that only half the battle was currently being fought and that the army was only fighting those who might be a threat to it and its interests, whilst turning an optically-challenged eye to those extremist elements that it was keeping on the back-burner. If Pakistan really wanted to fight terrorism and rid itself of extremism then it was going to have to fight the other half of the battle. And denial of the existence of the likes of the Quetta shura and the threat coagulating in southern Punjab cut no ice either. ‘The extremist and terrorist groups are part of syndicate of terror and Al Qaeda is head of that syndicate ’ quoth she, and if she was comfortable – and she was – saying things like this in public and on the record, we might wonder how her bluntness was mitigated in her private meetings. The answer is probably not at all, and public charm will have been matched by private toughness and a lack of equivocation and ambivalence. America probably does not need to be ‘best friends’ with Pakistan, but it does need to have a working relationship at a range of levels that serves its regional interests. Ms Clinton will not have bridged the trust deficit in three packed days but her public messages were consistent. She came across as credible (many doubted her capacity for the job) and she did something very strange indeed – she said ‘I don’t know’ in answer to a question. It felt like an honest answer. More of the same will not go amiss.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
