She was the toast of the foreign capitals. Hillary Clinton , a presidential ‘nominee’, called her ‘elected’ Pakistani counterpart a ‘tough cookie’. SM Krishna, while stepping down from office, recalled how he had ‘good chemistry and understanding’ with her.
She was the first foreign minister of Pakistan whose annual reception at the United Nations was attended by her Indian counterpart. Again, she was the first who gave clear instructions to the Foreign Office that she did not want to hear any ‘rhetoric’ against India, despite provocation.
“We engaged in three wars, so we said let’s give creating peace a chance. We decided that it was time to start changing the environment, the narrative and the mindset and to start investing in friendship, trust-building and serious mature relations with each other rather than investing in hostility and animosity,” she responded to critics who saw her too ‘soft’ on the ‘enemy’.
Not only was she Pakistan’s first and youngest foreign minister but also the first woman to present the budget speech in the National Assembly in 2009.
Hina Rabbani Khar in her signatory dopatta (“that never kept still”) , and string of pearls, had literally turned heads as she jetted around the world trying to defend the indefensible. “I have been to Kabul five times on official trips and only once to Washington. For us Kabul is the most important capital in the world as it is really the ‘heart of Asia’. I have been greatly influenced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto’s vision for strengthening relations in the region”, she told Outlook.
In fact, at times, President Hamid Karzai saw her as a threat, as she headed delegations to meet with the Afghan opposition , in an attempt to gather them in the reconciliation process. Many were non-Pashtuns , like Dr Abdullah Abdullah, who refused to break bread with Karzai.
It was in her official residence that a crucial midnight meeting was held last summer, attended amongst others by Army chief, General Ishfaq Pervez Kiyani. The establishment had finally ‘cowed’ down in the face of continuing US pressure and decided to open land routes into Afghanistan for NATO containers after a mild US ‘regret’, for killing Pakistani soldiers.