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 IF her beauty doesn't floor you, take a look at her CV - a guaranteed knockout. She studied law at Cambridge University before setting off for Harvard for a Master's degree in Public Policy. That landed her a job as legal adviser for the UN in Kosovo.
But that wasn't why Mahreen Khan was chosen as presenter of BBC's Question Time Pakistan, the popular show that put the movers and shakers - and shirkers - of Pakistani politics in the dock ahead of the October 2002 general elections. It was, in fact, her wit and sense of humour that landed her the hotly contested assignment.
Before she auditioned for the job, Mahreen learned that her BBC accent might cost her the appointment since the channel wanted someone who didn't just look Pakistani but sounded Pakistani as well. During the second stage of her audition, when all applicants were asked to say something about themselves in front of the camera, she commented that it was ironic that her flawless BBC accent was a liability for a job on the BBC itself!
Her confidence and her wit - with a little help from the Powers That Be, of course - helped her get the job and for 13 episodes, Khan became BBC's face for Pakistan. Most intrigued by this British-accented Pakistani woman who bulldozed Pakistani politicians and even intimidated President Musharraf into saying he wouldn't go off on a tangent lest Mahreen censure him, were viewers in India. She was interviewed by all the main Indian newspapers. Were they hostile?
'No,” she says, adding with a telling smile, 'but they had their angle.”
Reminiscing about life before the BBC, Khan recalls how she 'was working seven days a week in Kosovo which was a war zone.” She is sipping tea to soothe a throat on the brink of becoming sore. The mild winter morning in Karachi, where she now lives with her parents, is a far cry from the three Bosnian winters she endured in minus 15 temperatures. There is a constant hammering in the background, but it is coming from the construction taking place in her home, and is not the sound of war.
Weekend caught up with Mahreen Khan in Karachi recently where she was taking a break from her busy working week of QTP which is off the air this season.
An only child, Mahreen decided to move back to Pakistan two years ago when her father decided to retire and her parents relocated to Karachi. The decision was not easy, considering how much she enjoyed her work for the UN and that Pakistan had always been a holiday destination, never the place she called home.
But she has no regrets - even though relocating wasn't the only big change in her life. She also made a conscious decision not to practise law in Pakistan because she couldn't see herself trying to adjust to a new way of working. 'Once you've worked abroad you develop a certain work ethic and it's very hard to adopt a new work ethic. I thought it would be easier to go into a completely new profession where you don't have a history to deal with,” Mahreen explains.
A CAREER in the media was a serendipitous development. 'It just came up - fortuitous,” says Mahreen, though admitting that she had always been interested in the media and current affairs because of her Masters in Public Policy.
She joined Indus Vision, an independent TV channel among the handful of private channels that blossomed in Pakistan under a media liberalisation programme. At Indus she researched, scripted and presented a show called Assignment in which she highlighted core political and social issues from a people's perspective.
'Assignment proved to be something new and different so it got attention in a short span of time,” she explains.
International interest in Pakistan was at a high at the time with the troubling post 9/11 scenario and elections round the corner. The time was just right for the BBC to commission a season of Question Time Pakistan. The channel was on the lookout for a new face to present the show and Mahreen Khan, who had been noticed for her work in Assignment, was the first person be asked to audition for the show.
Responding to criticism that QTP went all out to discredit politicians in favour of military rule for Pakistan, Mahreen laughs as if she's had to answer that before. 'I think the format of it really separated the people who knew their stuff. It exposed people for what they were. The format demands that the panelists be succinct, humorous, know their facts and be able to give cogent answers. They didn't have time to skirt around the question; they were pinned down. But it wasn't at all meant to discredit politicians. If any were discredited, it was because of their performance. And many politicians came out very well, as the humorous intelligent people that they are,” she argues.
For now, Mahreen is quite content with a career in TV anchoring. 'The BBC experience has been excellent. It's been challenging, it's been rewarding. It's sort of the best of both worlds. Being able to work in Karachi but have a very professional work ethic and environment.
'If someone had told me before QTP, that I would be on BBC World, I would never have believed them!”
Other than the personal achievement, Mahreen feels 'it's a good thing for Pakistan to have a slot in BBC World because there are so many Pakistanis abroad now, and so many non-Pakistanis who are interested in following what's happening in Pakistan because we are at a pivotal point in our strategic history.”
And Mahreen Khan is happy to share the spotlight.
(Courtesy: Khaleej Times)
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