Hina Rabbani Khar

Hina Rabbani Khar, حنا ربانی کھر  , born 19 January 1977 in Multan) is a Pakistani politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 20 July 2011. She is Pakistan's youngest and first female Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Early and personal life

Hina Rabbani Khar was born on 19 January, 1977 in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. She is the daughter of politician Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar and niece of Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar. A businesswoman by profession, Hina Rabbani Khar's family has roots Khar Gharbi village located in Kot Addu, a tehsil in Muzaffargarh District in Punjab. The Khar family has many land holdings: an estate that includes fisheries, mango orchards and sugarcane fields. She graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) from Lahore University of Management Sciences in 1999 and received her M.Sc. in Hotel Management from the University of Massachusetts in 2001.

Personal life

She is married to Feroz Gulzar, a businessman and they have two sons and one daughter. She is co-owner of the Polo Lounge, an upscale, popular restaurant located on the Lahore Polo Grounds and in Islamabad.

Political career

She was elected to the National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) in 2002 from NA-177 Muzaffargarh-II constituency, Punjab. However, PML-Q denied her a ticket for re-election in 2008, consequently she ran on the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket and won with more than 84,000 votes.

She served as the State Minister for Economic Affairs and Statistics in the cabinet of Yousaf Raza Gillani. On 13 June, 2009 she became the first woman to present a budget speech in the National Assembly.

Foreign Minister

She was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 11 February, 2011, as part of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani cabinet reshuffle. After Shah Mehmood Qureshi's resignation as foreign minister, she became Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs on 13 February. She was officially appointed foreign minister on 19 July by President Asif Ali Zardari and was sworn in 20 July. Zardari described Khar’s appointment as a demonstration of the PPP government’s "commitment to bring women into the mainstream of national life.

After becoming the first women foreign minister of the country she first visited India for peace talks. Her first visit to India brought about much attention among the general public because the national media in the country was much talking about her beauty instead of the talks at hand. It actually got the sting out of the context for which she was visiting India.

Pakistan's new foreign minister charms India

New Delhi, India -- India and Pakistan are set to open a new round of talks this week in the latest attempt by the Asian rivals to build mutual trust.

No breakthroughs are expected in the bitter disputes that divide the nuclear neighbors, but some progress might come in the area of Kashmiri trade.

On her arrival in India Tuesday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar struck an optimistic note about the prospects of relations between the neighbors.

"(I) hope that these two countries will have learned lessons from history, but are not burdened by history and we can move forward, forge forward as good friendly neighbors, who have a stake in each others' future and who understand the responsibility that both the countries have to the region and within the region," she said, a day before her meeting with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.

Top bureaucrats from the two sides were in discussions in the Indian capital, New Delhi, ahead of Wednesday's talks. Indian and Pakistani officials have exchanged ideas on how to improve trade and travel across Kashmir -- the disputed region divided between the countries.

The current three-year agreement involves 21 locally made items, but business groups have been demanding expansion in the list of products. They'd also like to see an introduction of banking facilities, and improvements in communications and infrastructure.

Her appearance appeared to vindicate Pakistan President Asif Zardari's decision to nominate her as foreign minister in the hope that it would "send positive signals about the soft image of Pakistan."

Her own comments on a "mindset change" and a "new era in bilateral co-operation between the countries" reflected the same theme.

"A new generation of Indians and Pakistanis will see a relationship that will hopefully be much different from the one that has been experienced in the last two decades," she said.

India and Pakistan have fought four wars and they came close to a fifth in the months following the 2008 Mumbai attacks when Pakistani commando-style militants killed 166 in a three day rampage. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, later accused elements of Pakistan's security forces of supporting the terrorists. Since then tensions have flared over Pakistan's failure to convict the terrorist masterminds or to rein in militant leaders calling for 'jihad' against India.

Yesterday's talks did not produce a breakthrough on Kashmir, but agreed a series of confidence-building measures to double trade over the Line of Control, relax controls on travel, and increase sporting and cultural ties.

They agreed to strengthen co-operation against terrorism and "reiterated the firm and undiluted commitment of the two countries to fight and eliminate this scourge in all its forms and manifestations." They would also co-operate to "bring those responsible for terror crimes to justice."

The ministers also agreed to convene a meeting of each country's nuclear experts to reduce tensions and to resolve their disputes over control of the Siachen glacier and the Sir Creek.

Mirwaiz Farooq, the moderate Kashmiri Separatist leader who met Ms Khar in New Delhi ahead of the talks, said he was disappointed there was no time frame for the new talks on the Kashmir, but welcomed the role Ms Khar had played.

"Here's a minister from Pakistan, young, educated, articulate and she brings something fresh to the table," he said.

Seema Goswami, a leading Indian social commentator, however said she feared Ms Khar's style and glamour could put India at a disadvantage.

"She's incredibly young pretty, glamorous and has no fear of appearing flash. She wore pearls when she arrived and diamonds for the talks," she said. "We're so obsessed with her designer bag and clothes that we forget she first held talks with the Hurriyat Kashmiri separatists. She could be Pakistan's new weapon of mass destruction.