Syrus Qazi appointed new foreign secretary

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the appointment of Syrus Qazi as the new foreign secretary, official sources said on Friday.

There was no official announcement yet but sources confirmed that the premier approved the summary for the appointment of new foreign secretary.

Syrus, a grade-22 officer of the foreign service, is currently serving as a special secretary and will now replace Asad Majid on August 16. The latter is retiring after reaching the age of superannuation.

The government approved the appointment of his successor days before his retirement date as it did not want to leave such an important post to be filled by the caretaker setup.

Sources said that since the foreign secretary is a key position and cannot be left vacant, therefore, the government decided to appoint a new foreign secretary before it leaves the office.

Read more: Coalition seeks new foreign secretary before departure

Syrus was the frontrunner and has been waiting for the top slot since Asad Majeed was appointed as foreign secretary in December last year. Asad served as foreign secretary for eight months.

He was the Pakistani Ambassador in Washington who sent the cipher in March 2022 after meeting a senior US official. The cipher was used by then prime minister Imran Khan as “evidence” of foreign conspiracy seeking the ouster of his government.

The secret diplomatic cable suggested that the US administration was not happy with the government of ex-PM Imran and wanted his removal through the vote of no confidence. Washington has repeatedly denied the charges.

The government wanted to appoint Asad as foreign secretary in September 2022 when Sohail Mahmood relinquished the charge but instead it had given additional charge to Jauhar Saleem. The reason the government did not appoint a full-time foreign secretary was because then army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa had reservations over Asad’s nomination.

However, Asad was finally appointed as the foreign secretary in December days after General (retd) Bajwa retired. It was believed that Asad was appointed at the recommendation of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Asad served with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari when he was president and also was deputy head of mission when climate change minister Sherry Rehman was Pakistan’s envoy to the US.