Beauty of bloopers 

Zartaj Gul Wazir, the Minister of State for Climate Change, is known for her beauty and bloopers. She is bold and blunt in her expression. She seems careless in carrying out her political moves though proved to be very caring to her political and emotional affiliations. Her likes and dislikes are clear and definite rather somehow carefree too. She flows with the flow of her own streams and vibes. Her eyes speak of her clarity of conception, whatever it is, right or wrong.

She is not the one who is nominated in the National Assembly of Pakistan on the reserved seat because of her looks or some compromises or because of her politically influential family. She is one of the most credible women in politics sitting in the National Assembly at her own – by winning her seat in the general elections on the basis of vote count. So, she may be genuinely considered as the voice of the people of her constituency.

Having her as a state minister might have been the choice of Prime Minister Imran Khan to have a woman minister directly elected by the voters for the sake of some credibility of his cabinet – the house full of unelected and hand-picked advisors and special assistants. Insanely, the present cabinet of Imran Khan is the reflection and replica of the cabinet of second longest tenured dictator General Pervez Musharraf.

We have seen many women playing their active and crucial role in public affairs, politics and management. Benazir Bhutto was not the only example in politics. In recent years, we have seen a long list of exceptionally honoured women for their intellect and objective performance.

For leading from the front flawlessly, what counts more is the environment you brought up in, educated and living in, and the people around you. It makes a big difference. If not all the women at top had the best in their grooming phase, somehow most of them do. Most of them were groomed and trained to become leaders. So they were provided with the enabling environment, exposure and process of experimentation. Some chose it for themselves and struggled hard to become women of substance.

She is a public leader in the process of making. One day she would be there without any bloopers and blunders. Fact is she speaks extempore where chances are making mistakes are more than if you are well prepared and have some talking points.

Perhaps she is trying to copy her leader Imran Khan who is good at speaking on any topic even with a little or no knowledge of the subject. Her leader is good too in covering up his bloopers and blunders without any embarrassment. In most of the cases, he could take U-turns that he believes is the crucial trait of a person and especially a leader in politics. Perhaps, he would continue to do so in the future too whether he remained in politics or not. But she has to change herself if she wants to be in the arena of public leadership for long and with respect and honour.

I had the honour to host her as chief guest and saw her speaking on mountain issues at the closing ceremony of the 9th Pakistan Mountain Festival in Islamabad where she was sitting just next to me. It was an impressive speech without any blunders or bloopers. She has been speaking on every occasion with utmost confidence and courage that speaks of her will to excel.

Bold and blunt nature is a blessing. Who else could speak fearlessly on the issues and topics not well versed with. She at least tried it. Perhaps she needs a mentor and trainer in public speaking or at least the one who could guide her on her deliberations. I am a fan of her blunt expression. Imran Khan enjoys wider female fanfare in the political arena but he could not have a public comment of ‘killing smile’ from anyone else but she didn’t mind saying it publicly. She also counted in the ample rains and snowfall last year to her leader’s blessings.

Frankly, I also feel indebted to her for her gracious comment on what she made while going back from the closing ceremony of the 9th Pakistan Mountain Festival, “Munir sahib, your voice is wonderful, even without any microphone”. I felt flattered though not for the first time but the compliment was from a woman who has been admired a while for her beauty, and blunt and bold nature.

So, Zartaj Gul Wazir – the Minister of State for Climate Change, we are fans of your blunt and bold nature, well-versed and adequately worded extempore speeches but certainly not of the bloopers and blunders. Just a humble suggestion, go well prepared for public appearances and keep on learning from your mistakes, blunders and bloopers.