Pakistan insists US envoy’s appointment on track

The Foreign Office on Tuesday dispelled the reports that the appointment of Pakistan’s ambassador-designate to the United States, Masood Khan, had been put on hold by the Biden administration, maintaining his agrément was being processed in the US system.

While the Foreign Office was more categorical in denying such reports, the US embassy in Islamabad, however, was more diplomatic as its spokesperson insisted that “as a matter of standard diplomatic practice, we do not comment on the status of agrément requests from foreign governments.”

The embassy spokesperson was responding to The Express Tribune’s query over the controversy surrounding the delayed process.

The reaction from the Foreign Office came over speculations that the US had reservations over the credentials of Masood Khan. A letter by a US congressman written to the State Department also surfaced, pressing the Biden administration to reject the nomination of Masood for allegedly being a sympathiser of “jihadi” outfits.

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“While I am encouraged that the State Department has reportedly placed a pause on approving Masood Khan as the new ambassador from Pakistan, a pause is not enough. I urge you to reject any diplomatic credentials presented to you by Masood Khan and reject any effort by the government of Pakistan to install this jihadist as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States,” US Congressman Scott Kerry from Pennsylvania wrote to the State Department.

However, the Foreign Office spokesperson rejected such media reports as part of India’s wider “disinformation campaign to malign Pakistan and those who represent Pakistan, by using fake news to make scandalous claims and baseless allegations”.

Speaking about Masood, who also served as former president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Asim Iftikhar noted that Ambassador Masood Khan “is a highly accomplished diplomat with 40 years of experience in both multilateral and bilateral diplomacy”.

After his retirement, Masood became the AJK president and has been advancing Pakistan’s case for the longstanding Kashmir dispute with India. Masood has vast experience in multilateral diplomacy and has been a frequent negotiator for Pakistan.

He has served in various diplomatic positions at missions in Beijing, The Hague, and Washington DC. Masood during his service served as the ambassador to China as well as a permanent representative to the United Nations. He also remained a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

His appointment came at a time when relations between Pakistan and the US are facing an uncertain future. Since the US exit from Afghanistan, there is no clarity about the kind of relationship the US wants to maintain with Pakistan.

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Although Pakistan has been seeking broad-based ties with the US covering all aspects, the US has so far given little indication if it is ready to enhance the scope of its ties with Pakistan beyond security and Afghanistan.

It is perhaps because of this reason that President Joe Biden has not yet spoken to Prime minister Imran Khan despite being in office for nine months.

There has been some movement on the ties in recent months after the Biden administration named a full-time ambassador to Pakistan. The US has not had a full-time ambassador since August 2018.