Ishaq Dar appointed as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister

Ishaq Dar, a four-time former finance minister, has been appointed as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister as the new government settled in to tackle myriad problems at the domestic and external fronts, including its relations with India and other neighbors.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inducted 19 members into his Cabinet, ending the tenuous wait for the completion of government formation in the cash-strapped country.

Mr. Dar, an ethnic Kashmiri and chartered accountant by training is a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

He is also a confidant of the party head and former three-time premier, Nawaz Sharif.

With little experience in managing foreign affairs, he was given the important portfolio when Pakistan’s ties with its neighbor India and Afghanistan were at their lowest ebb.

In August 2019, the two sides cut trade ties and lowered their diplomatic presence in each other’s capital after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.