Pakistan appoints new envoys to China, Russia

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the appointments of new ambassadors to China and Russia, official sources confirmed on Monday.

Khalil Hashmi, who was serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Geneva, has been directed to take up his new role as envoy to China while Khalid Jamali has been named as Ambassador to Russia.

However, there was no official statement either from the Foreign Office or the PM House.

Earlier, the FO sent former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood’s name for the post of Ambassador to China, which, sources claimed, was turned down by the PM office.

Khalil Hashmi, who joined the Foreign Services of Pakistan (FSP) in 1994, will replace Moeen-ul-Haq as Ambassador to China on completion of his term in Beijing.

Hashmi was previously posted to Pakistani missions in Denmark, China and also served at the Pakistani mission in the UN in New York.

Ambassador-designate to Russia Khalid Jamali joined the FSP in 1995. He is replacing Shafqat Ali Khan, who held Pakistan’s top diplomatic post in Moscow since 2020 -- completing three-year tenure.

Jamali was given several key diplomatic assignments in India, Turkey and Belgium.