Govt nominates new envoys in US, UK and other countries

FM says Dr Asad Majeed Khan to replace Ali Jahangir Siddiqui in Washington, Nafees Zakaria to be appointed in London

ISLAMABAD: In a major diplomatic reshuffle, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Friday decided to remove all the political appointees approved by the previous government in key diplomatic missions including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Speaking at a news conference, flanked by Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal in Islamabad, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters that the government approved the appointment of new ambassadors in United States, UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Cuba and Serbia.

Dr Asad Majeed Khan, who is currently serving as ambassador to Japan, would be appointed as ambassador to Washington, considered one of the crucial but challenging diplomatic posts.

 



Majeed is a career diplomat and in the past served in New York and Washington in different capacities. He also remained head of the American division at the Foreign Office.

He would replace Ali Jahangir Siddiqi, who was given the coveted slot by the PML-N government at the far end of their five-year tenure. His appointment was criticised by the opposition parties at the time. He was also facing investigations in corruption allegations before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Another crucial appointment proposed by the government was of the high commissioner to London. Nafees Zakria, the current ambassador to Malaysia, is now being appointed as envoy to the UK.

He would replace Sahibzada Ahmed Khan, who was in the headlines after appeared drunk at an award ceremony in London. His video went viral prompting the foreign minister to summon him back to Pakistan. Sahibzada is now being given the charge of ambassador to Cuba.

 

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The slot fell vacant after Kamran Shafi, who was appointed by the PML-N government, resigned after the election victory of PTI.

The government also decided to replace Tariq Azim, another political appointee, with Raza Bashir Tarar as ambassador to Canada.

Similarly, Raja Ali Ijaz would be appointed as new ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Other proposed appointments include Hamid Asghar Khan as ambassador to Morocco, Sharyar Akbar Khan as envoy to Belgrade and Ahmed Amjad Ali as Consular General of Dubai.

Foreign Minister Qureshi said all the latest appointees were career diplomats and the government proposed their names based on their skills and experience.

He said unlike the previous government, the PTI did not appoint anyone based on personal liking and disliking. He, however, admitted that it was the prerogative of any government to make political appointments in diplomatic missions since there was no legal bar.

‘Trade, investment cooperation to increase with UAE’

The foreign minister said Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to enhance bilateral relations, including trade and investment, for the mutual benefit of the two countries. He said the visiting high-level UAE delegation, which called on him earlier in the day, showed interest in investing in different sectors of Pakistan.



Qureshi said the UAE delegation also included representatives of Emaar, the leading housing company of UAE. The minister said the Pakistani side talked about increasing exports of rice, fruit and vegetables to the Gulf country. Joint collaboration in food processing industries was also discussed during the meeting, he added.

PHOTO: RADIO PAKISTAN

The top Pakistani diplomat said he also discussed with the UAE delegation the country’s requirement of oil on deferred payment in continuation of the recent agreement with Saudi Arabia.

“We want to benefit from the experience of UAE in water desalination as they have immense experience in this sector,” said the minister, adding that the Emirati delegation also expressed interest in setting up a state of the art LNG terminal in Pakistan.

With additional input from Radio Pakistan