Syrus Qazi takes charge as foreign secretary

Ambassador Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi formally took charge as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan upon the retirement of Asad Majeed Khan, the Foreign Office announced on Wednesday.

Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had approved the appointment of Qazi as the new foreign secretary just days before completing the government’s term. The official announcement, however, was made on Wednesday.

"Ambassador Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi has been appointed as the 32nd Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. He replaces Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan who retires from government service upon attaining superannuation," Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch tweeted.

Qazi, a Grade-22 officer of the Foreign Service, was serving as a special secretary and has now replaced Khan, who retired after reaching the age of superannuation.

The government approved the appointment of Khan’s successor days before his retirement date as it did not leave such an important post to be filled by the caretaker set-up.

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

Also read: Syrus Qazi appointed new foreign secretary

Qazi was the front-runner and had been waiting for the top slot since Khan was appointed as the foreign secretary in December last year. Khan served as the foreign secretary for eight months.

Khan was the Pakistani ambassador in Washington, who sent the cypher in March 2022 after meeting a senior US official. The cypher was used by then prime minister Imran Khan as an evidence of foreign conspiracy against his government.

The government wanted to appoint Khan as the 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 Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had reservations over Khan’s nomination. However, he was appointed in Dec days after Gen Bajwa retired.

It was believed that Khan was appointed at the recommendation of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Khan had served with Asif Zardari when he was the president and was also the deputy head of mission when Sherry Rehman was Pakistan’s envoy to the US.