Daily Times

Young, confident and straightforward, Hina Rabbani Khar is one of the very few Pakistani politicians who make their presence felt with their eloquence.

She was 33 years of age when she served as the 21st foreign minister from 2011 to 2013, becoming the youngest person and the first woman to have held the position.

Hina Rabbani Khar belongs to an influential feudal family of Multan. She is a graduate of the prestigious Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and later the coveted Amherst College in the United States before entering politics in 2002, representing Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and becoming a junior minister responsible for economic policy under former prime minister Shaukat Aziz.

In 2009, after switching parties and winning re-election with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Hina became the Minister of State for Finance & Economic Affairs and the same year became the first woman to present the national budget.

Young, confident and straight forward, Hina Rabbani Khar is one of the very few Pakistani politicians who make their presence felt with their wit, knowledge and eloquent speech

She was appointed by former PM Yousaf Raza Gillani as foreign minister. Hina has always continued to push for stronger ties with India.

Hina belongs to a family of politicians. Her father Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar is a prominent national politician and served as a member of the National Assembly. She is the niece of Ghulam Mustafa Khar who was the former governor and chief minister of Punjab.

Hina has retained ties with LUMS since her graduation. In 2012, she delivered a lecture there on Foreign Policy & Young Democracy and secured funding for the Abdus Salam Institute of Physics.

As minister of state, she worked with international relief funds and charities after the deadly 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan and also worked on proposals for the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India pipeline.

She also worked on reducing Pakistan’s circular debt within the energy sector.

She was appointed foreign minister during a difficult time in Pakistan when the country’s armed forces were confronting extreme elements in Western Pakistan and anti-American emotions ran high over the Raymond Davis incident.

She has also spoken at the prestigious 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran.

During a visit to Bangladesh in 2012, Hina was approached by the foreign minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni to sort out post-independence issues between the countries. Hina called for the two countries to move ahead together.

During her two-year-long appointment as the country’s foreign minister, Hina attracted significant global attention on her status as Pakistan’s first woman foreign minister.

As minister of state, she worked with international relief funds and charities after the deadly 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan and also worked on proposals for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline

She was interviewed by Charlie Rose, CBS News, Al Jazeera and Washington Post among others.

She served as a high-ranking member of the Central Executive Committee of PPP from 2008 to 2013.

Hina has been an active public speaker. She has written op-ed’s for Newsweek Pakistan and was interviewed by Mehdi Hassan at the Oxford Union in 2015.

In 2016, she appeared on ‘Jirga’ with Salim Safi, speaking out against Pakistan’s aggressive stance in the Kashmir conflict.

In an appearance at the Islamabad Literature Festival, she continued her support of a closer Indian-Pakistan relationship.

Hina is the co-owner of a well-reputed restaurant called the Polo Lounge. The initial branch opened at the Lahore Polo Ground in 2002. A second Polo Lounge has since opened in Islamabad’s Saidpur Village.

                                           Achievements

EARLY FORAY INTO POLITICS

Hina Rabbani Khar has been the youngest person and the first woman to have held the position of foreign minister in Pakistan. She has the distinction of being the first woman politician to present the Pakistani budget in the National Assembly.

HIGHLY QUALIFIED

Hina Rabbani Khar is a graduate of the esteemed Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where she holds a BSc with honours in Economics conferred in 1999. She subsequently attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the United States where she earned an MSc in Business Management in 2002. Hina has retained ties with LUMS since her graduation. In 2012, she delivered a lecture there on Foreign Policy & Young Democracy and secured funding for the Abdus Salam Institute of Physics.

DEDICATED ACTIVIST

As minister of state, she worked with international relief funds and charities after the deadly 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan.

STRONG & VOCAL

Hina has also worked on proposals for the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India pipeline. She also worked on reducing Pakistan’s circular debt within the energy sector. She visited India and held peace talks with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna. In 2012, Hina left for Moscow with an agenda of strengthening bilateral relations, with Pakistan’s relationship with the United States strained. In 2012, while speaking at the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, Hina maintained that regional stability was imperiled due to the increasing tensions relating to Iran’s nuclear programme and a “peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible on the basis of reciprocal confidence-building measures and security assurances against external threats”. During her visit to Bangladesh, Hina was approached by the foreign minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni to sort out post-independence issues between the countries. She called for the two countries to move ahead together.

INTERNATIONAL EMINENCE

During her two-year-long appointment as the country’s foreign minister, Hina attracted significant global attention on her status as Pakistan’s first woman foreign minister. She was interviewed by Charlie Rose, CBS News and Washington Post among others. She has written op-ed’s for Newsweek Pakistan and was interviewed by Mehdi Hasan at the Oxford Union in December 2015.

SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR

Hina is co-owner of a restaurant called the Polo Lounge. The initial branch opened at the Lahore Polo Ground in 2002. A second Polo Lounge has since opened in Islamabad’s Saidpur Village.

Published in Daily Times, August 13^th 2018.