ISLAMABAD: Selection board for promotion of grade 21 officers to grade 22 of the Foreign Office would take place on January 30. The board would recommend one of the eight officers of grade 21 for promotion to grade 22. The sources revealed that the prime minister decided that selection of new Foreign Secretary would be taken place after the board’s meeting. The sources hinted that Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkey Sohail Mahmood could prove a dark horse for the slot. Afrasiab Mehdi Qureshi, Iftikhar Aziz, Ms Tasnim Aslam, Farrukh Amil, Syed Ibrar Hussain and Aitzaz Ahmad are the other grade 21 officers who are waiting in their wings for the promotion. Afrasiab Mehdi Qureshi is currently Pakistan’s high commissioner to New Zealand, Iftikhar Aziz is Additional Foreign Secretary for Administration in headquarters, and Ms Tasnim Aslam is Additional Foreign Secretary for the United Nations affairs as she also served as spokesperson for the Foreign Office, Farrukh Amil is Pakistan’s Ambassador to Japan and Syed Ibrar Hussain is ambassador to Afghanistan. The selection board will be headed by Secretary to Prime Minister (SPM) Fawad Hasan Fawad. It is expected that the prime minister will approve the appointment of new Foreign Secretary in the first week of next month after receiving the board’s findings. Pakistan’s former ambassador to France and Chief of Protocol (CP) Ghalib Iqbal, Pakistan’s permanent representative for the United Nations Geneva headquarter Ms Tehmina Janjua, country’s high commissioners to India Abdul Basit and United Kingdom Ibne Abbas are among the contenders for foreign secretary slot and already occupying grade 22 officers of the Foreign Office, the sources added.