Rehman Malik may replace Hina Rabbani Khar as Pak FM

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Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani are considering to replace foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar with incumbent interior minister Rehman Malik as the government hopes for talks with India, official sources said.

“There are people within the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) who want a change in the foreign ministry,” a senior official at the presidency told this newspaper.

On Sunday, Gilani had said that a 'fresh team' will carry forward bilateral talks with India to resolve outstanding issues, including Kashmir. “If the top leaders finally decide to change Khar, Malik would be the new man,” said the official.

Malik held talks with his Indian counterpart P. Chidambaram during Sunday’s visit to New Delhi with Zardari. Khar was a part of the President’s entourage.

A US delegation led by deputy secretary of state Thomas Nides was taken by surprise when Khar publicly contradicted Zardari at a April 4 meeting in Lahore. Zardari was camping there to interact with workers of his Pakistan People’s Party.

Nides raised the issue of Pakistan’s participation in a conference on Afghanistan to be held at Chicago in May, and Zardari said his government was amenable to discussing the matter if Washington extended a formal invitation.

At this point, Khar intervened and said the issue could not be taken up till a joint session of Parliament completed an ongoing review of Pakistan-US relations, the sources said.

Any discussion on the Chicago conference could be held only after the review, she was quoted as saying. Sources said the US delegation was surprised by the 'argumentative' tone adopted by Khar in the presence of the President, who is perceived as the PPP’s main decision-maker on crucial foreign policy issues.