Hina Rabbani Khar,s 'Baby' : Polo Lounge Islamabad

Hina Rabbani Khar.

The ambience at the Polo Lounge is serene and reeks of old money, a lot like its owner, some would say. After all, the fine-dining restaurant is Hina Rabbani Khar's 'baby'. On the menu are steak, prawn and lobster - quite fittingly "foreign" for an eatery owned by Pakistan's foreign minister.

An outdoor restaurant with spectacular views of the Margalla Hills in Islamabad's upmarketSaidpur Village, the Lounge attracts the who's who of the capital city. It's the second in a chain of restaurants started by Khar, who has a degree in hospitality management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The first Polo Lounge came up at a polo club in Lahore 11 years ago. Khar's businessman husband Feroze Gulzar is a polo aficionado.

Hina Rabbani Khar.

That's modest, considering the Islamabad branch owes its existence to Khar. Polo Lounge was one of the many businesses which responded to an advertisement put out by Islamabad's civic body, Capital Development Authority, in May 2008, inviting investors to set up businesses at the remodelled Saidpur Village. Those interested were required to apply by June 9, 2008. But, said a CDA official, Polo Lounge's application, pinned with the official visiting card of Hina R Khar, landed inthe office of CDA's chairman on August 13, 2008.

A month later, CDA's offer letter was on its way to the management of Polo Lounge in Lahore, he said. At that time, Khar was minister for economic affairs.

A senior CDA official said that had the sites for restaurants in the village been auctioned instead of being leased out, the civic body would have earned at least 10 times more. Polo Lounge's monthly lease payment is around $1,190 - modest considering the market value of the place.

But, such instances hardly raise eyebrows here; using one's name to make big bucks wouldn't even fall in the ambit of dishonesty by Pakistani standards. In a country where big-ticket corruption is rampant, Khar enjoys the reputation of being 'Ms Clean'. No major scam has been unearthed against her since she joined the government as minister of state for economic affairs under Musharraf's military regime a decade ago. One of the country's richest ministers, she paid only $720 in taxes last year. In Pakistan, this is par for the course.

EB