Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s first female foreign minister in the previous PPP government, was appointed junior foreign minister in the newly formed Shehbaz Sharif cabinet. In 2011, 34-year-old Khar became Pakistan’s first and youngest woman to take the helm of the pivotal position when she was treated as a celebrity on her first visit to India, and the media went into a frenzy over her lavish style and expensive accessories.

During her brief two-year tenure as foreign minister, the American-educated Hal developed a foreign policy credited with improving relations with Pakistan’s neighbours India and Afghanistan. Her return to the role of crucial deputy is likely to see 33-year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sworn in as foreign minister in the next few days, again sparking significant buzz. Sharif has yet to appoint a new foreign minister, with 34 members announced.

She is just one of five female ministers elected to Sharif’s cabinet, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Sherry Rehman, Shazia Marri, and Aisha Ghaus Pasha. Khar was a member of the cabinet of General Pervez Musharraf’s government and a popular minister who smoothly transitioned to President Asif Ali Zardari’s government a decade ago. She entered politics at the age of 25 after unexpectedly winning a foreign education in her conservative and rural constituencies. The scrutiny of Hina Rabbani Khar’s lineage, money, and appearance peaked during her visit to India from a wealthy landlord family in the southern Pakistani state of Punjab.

Her sophisticated clothes, Cavalli sunglasses, and $9,000 Hermes-made Birkin bag garnered so much attention that casual sexism filled the headlines at the time. She dismissed the censorship and refused to change her attitude in the interview. Her comments on Kashmir in 2016 also became a topic of conversation after she said she could not “conquer” Indian Union territory through war.

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“I believe Pakistan cannot conquer Kashmir through war. If we cannot do that, our remaining option is dialogue, which can only be done with partners with whom we have normal relations and a certain degree of mutual trust,” she told a Pakistani news channel. She has been fighting for a better relationship with India. After two years as foreign minister in 2013, she retired from active politics but remained a public speaker. She returned to politics in 2018 and was selected by the PPP for the women’s reserved seat in the National Assembly in the 2018 general election.