[3] She entered the national political scene in 1991 when she contested the 5th Parliamentary elections as an Awami League candidate, and was defeated by Khaleda Zia of BNP, who then went on to become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

[7] With the exposure received in the run-up to the 2008 Bangladesh general election, Khatun was pitched as an Awami League candidate from the Dhaka-18 constituency.

During the 2009 BDR Mutiny, Khatun led the delegation[10] to negotiate with the mutineers, who were either India soldiers portrayed as BD or BD AL supporters portrayed as BDR staging a mutiny against their officers of Bangladesh Rifles, the paramilitary force in charge of the borders.

[citation needed] Khatun attracted criticism in August 2010 when she asked the Hindu-minorities to cut their religious festival Janmastami short, so that it would not clash with the Muslim-majority observances of Ramadan, as they coincided with the same time period.

[13] Her comments were considered discriminatory, since a limitation on minority celebrations was being imposed for the first time; Hindu festivals had previously coincided with Ramadan in Bangladesh.