Hina Rabbani Khar unlikely to contest polls to Pakistan parliament

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar is unlikely to contest polls to parliament next month as her father is a candidate for the National Assembly constituency that she represented earlier, according to a media report today.

The nomination papers of Khar's father, Ghulam Rabbani Khar, for parliamentary constituency number 177 in Punjab province have been approved by poll authorities.

Khar was quoted by The Express Tribune as saying that she had only "applied as a covering candidate to my father".

As her father's papers had been cleared, Khar told the daily that "would be that for her political career for now".

Khar has also not applied for a parliamentary seat reserved for women on a Pakistan People's Party ticket.

"That continues to be the position," she said. Khar's father is not a graduate and rules that were in place at the time of the 2008 general election barred him from contesting polls.

Under new rules, it is no longer mandatory for candidates to be graduates and he decided to contest the polls scheduled for May 11.

There has been speculation in political circles in Islamabad since last year that Khar would not contest the upcoming polls and would make way for her father to make a fresh bid to enter the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.

At the age of 34, Khar became Pakistan's youngest and first woman Foreign Minister in 2011.