ISLAMABAD: In a major and long-awaited reshuffle at the high echelon in the Foreign Office, Pakistan has designated new ambassadors for 18 important capitals including Russia, Iran, Germany, Italy, Poland, South Korea, Bulgaria, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Argentina, Romania, Denmark, Jordan, Kirgizstan and six counsel generals for different consulates of Pakistan.
Dr Muhammad Faisal Chaudhry, who is Director General South Asia Division in the FO and spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs, has been appointed country’s ambassador in Germany replacing Jauhar Saleem, who will be now Pakistan’s ambassador for Italy vice Nadeem Riyaz.
Pakistan’s ambassador for South Korea Rahim Hayat Qureshi will be replacing Ms Riffat Masood in Iran who is returning to the headquarters before attaining superannuation. Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan who is ambassador in Warsaw for Poland has been designated ambassador for Russia to replace Qazi Khalilullah who was on a contractual assignment and will stand retired with the replacement. Malik Muhammad Farooq, who was Director General Europe in the FO, has been made ambassador for Poland. Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Additional Foreign Secretary for the Middle East, has been appointed ambassador to Greece, and Marium Madeeha Aftab, who is minister in Pakistan’s embassy in Berlin, has been elevated as ambassador for Bulgaria, Minister in Beijing embassy Ms Mumtaz Zohra Baloch has been appointed as ambassador for South Korea. Additional Foreign Secretary for African Affairs Dr Ali Ahmad Arain has been made ambassador in Senegal replacing Muhammad Imran Mirza who will be getting assignment at the headquarters. Minister in Ankara embassy Syed Ali Asad Geelani, upon attaining elevation, will be now Pakistan’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, while minister in Sweden Irfan Ahmad will become ambassador in Turkmenistan and minister in Canberra Khalid Ejaz has been made ambassador for Argentina.
Director General in FO Zafar Iqbal will be ambassador in Romania. Another Director General FO Ahmad Farooq will be ambassador in Denmark. Major General Umer Farooq Burki will be ambassador in Jordan and Vice Admiral Athar Mukhtar will be ambassador in Kirgizstan. Minister in Budapest Zahid Hussain will be counsel general in Frankfurt. Samina Mehtab, who is Director General in FO, has been appointed counsel general in Chinese city Chengdu, minister in Canberra Tariq Wazir will now move to Manchester as Counsel General. Muhammad Saeed, ambassador in Azerbaijan, has been given extension for six months before his superannuation. Ayesha Farooqui, who has assumed charge as Director General in FO and has come from US where she was Counsel General in Houston, will become spokesperson for the Foreign Office in place of Dr Muhammad Faisal. She is likely to assume the responsibility next week.
Well-placed sources told The News here Saturday that the nominations for appointment of the envoys have been made public by departing well established tradition since none of the ambassadors have got proper agreement from their respective country.
According to the established practice and tradition, the ambassador/high commissioner’s name is made public after receiving the consent of the host government on the mutually agreed date and time. The sources said that the Foreign Office received the approved summary on Friday evening and telegrams for issuance of agreement were sent on Saturday morning. It is likely that the consent of the countries concerned will be received in few days that will enable the ambassadors designate to start formalising their preparations for moving to their respective capitals. The outgoing spokesman of FO Dr Faisal wasn’t available for his comments since he was on his way to Washington.