Introduction: Hina Rabbani Khar is currently serving as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. She was appointed to head the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan in July 2011. She remains the first and youngest female to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She is also the first Pakistani woman to present the budget in the National Assembly.
Biography: Hina Rabbani Khar is the daughter of a Muslim landowner and politician, Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar. She was born on January 19, 1977 in Multan. She hails from a feudal/political family and is extremely proud of her lineage. She is a multifaceted lady who holds a Bachelors degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Masters in Management Sciences from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. She has a dynamic personality and possesses all the attributes of a successful leader.
Political Career: In 2002’s general election her father, a candidate with Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q), was unable to run for the election, due to the stipulation regarding the candidates to hold a graduate degree to qualify for the candidacy. Hina was elected to the National Assembly representing the NA-177 Muzaffargarh-II constituency in Punjab, a position held by her father previously. The party campaign was staged and proactively conducted by her father throughout the course of the elections. He organized rallies and presided over various seminars in order to increase her vote bank. Hina was elected as the Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Affairs and Statistics.
In 2008 she was denied her ticket to the re-election which instigated her move to join Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
During 2004 and 2007, Hina Rabbani Khar was the Minister of State of Economic Affairs. She also served the office of State for Finance and Economic affairs, as a Minister, between 2008 and 2011.
As a Foreign Minister: After Shah Mahmoud Qureshi resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar was appointed as the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and was finally sworn in as the Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 19, 2011. President Zardari called this a strategic move to empower women and a way to encourage them to enter mainstream politics.
Soon after her appointment as the Minister of foreign Affairs, Hina traveled to India, in order to lead the peace dialogue process. She was widely appreciated by the Indians and international community at large due to her insightful views, eloquence and perspective to bring peace and harmony in the Southeast Asian region. The peace talks were suspended after the Mumbai attacks of 2008 and Hina managed to abridge the broken process to a great extent.
She also held talks with separatist leaders of Kashmir.
