Sherry Rehman

Sherry Rehman studied art history and politics at Smith College and the University of Sussex before building a career in journalism. She edited Herald and later entered parliamentary politics with the Pakistan Peoples Party. Her legislative initiatives addressed women’s rights, access to information, domestic violence, and restrictions on the press. ¹

As information and broadcasting minister in 2008–09, Rehman also held health, women’s development, and culture responsibilities. She delivered an October 2008 national security briefing to a joint parliamentary sitting and worked to remove restrictions on electronic and print media. In 2009 she resigned from the cabinet over efforts to curb media freedom. ^{1, 2}

Her Washington ambassadorship from 2011 to 2013 began during a severe breakdown in relations. Pakistan had closed NATO’s Afghanistan supply routes after American airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. In a May 2012 CNN interview, Rehman defended the demand for an apology while describing negotiations to restore a transparent transit arrangement. Her embassy’s summer newsletter reported months of work on the apology and welcomed the July reopening, followed by a memorandum governing transit. ^{3, 4}

Rehman continued policy work through the Jinnah Institute, which she founded, including unofficial dialogues with India and Afghanistan. She became Pakistan’s first woman opposition leader in the Senate. Her cultural interests also produced Five Hundred Years of the Kashmiri Shawl, co-authored with Naheed Jafri and published in 2006. ^{1, 2}

As climate change minister during the 2022 floods, Rehman argued for international support for countries suffering damage disproportionate to their emissions. At COP27 she addressed parliamentarians on climate vulnerability, pressed for adaptation and early warning systems, and met American senators and humanitarian organizations about recovery. The conference agreed to establish a dedicated loss and damage fund for vulnerable developing countries. ^{5, 6}