PM likely to name new foreign secretary next month

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.