Pakistani parliament probes premier’s alleged flirting with Rice

By DPA

Islamabad : Senators in the upper house of Pakistan's parliament Tuesday moved a motion to summon Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz over "shameful" allegations that he tried to use seductive charm to win over US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during talks.


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Referring to Rice's first visit to Pakistan as foreign policy chief in March 2005, the author of a new biography on the US politician claims that the urbane premier puffed himself up and held forth in his "seductive baritone" but to little effect.

Aziz "tried this Saville Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: Pakistan is a country of rich traditions, staring in Rice's eyes," wrote Marcus Mabry, Newsweek magazine's senior editor and author of the biography Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and her Path to Power.

"There was this test of wills where he was trying to use all his charm on her as a woman and she just basically stared him down. By the end of the meeting, he was babbling," Pakistani media quoted him as writing.

Moreover, Aziz is said to have bragged to Western diplomats that he could "conquer any woman in two minutes," according to the biography.

Several Pakistani senators signed the motion seeking an explanation from the head of government in the upper house.

"The matter as published was shameful for the entire nation and needs discussion," the motion said.

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