PM gives two-year extension to Maleeha

Aizaz Ch appointed envoy to US

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved two-year extension to Dr Maleeha Lodhi to continue serving as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative (PR) in the United Nations.

The decision has been taken in view of her commendable services as the country’s representative in the world body. She was appointed in February 2015 and will stay in the prestigious slot till February 2019.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry has been appointed the country’s ambassador to the United States as the US government agreement (acceptance) for his posting was received on Tuesday. He is replacing Syed Jalil Abbas Jilani, who has completed his tenure in Washington and proceeded on retirement.

The sources told The News that major reshuffle in the ambassadors/high commissioners of Pakistan in different capitals  would take place after new Foreign Secretary Ms Tehmina Janjua would assume the office. Ms Janjua is relinquishing as PR to the UN in Geneva headquarters of the UN towards the end of the month to return Islamabad. She will assume the office of the Foreign Secretary in the first week of March. 

The sources said that Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the first Pakistan’s woman envoy in the UN had splendid record of serving the country in various diplomatic assignments. She is a journalist-turned-diplomat who has made remarkable achievements at the UN headquarters for attaining country’s foreign policy objectives. She is a political scientist and one of Pakistan's prominent diplomats. She had served the country as Pakistan’s ambassador for the United States twice while once as High Commissioner for the United Kingdom. She has been named as an international scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and, in 1994, Lodhi was named by the Time Magazine as one of a hundred people in the world who will help to shape the 21st century.

Lodhi is also a member of the National Defence University's Senate, and is a member of the advisory council of IISS and was a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum. She is the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (HI) for Public Service and holds an honourary fellowship from the London School of Economics since 2004 and received an honourary degree of D.Litt. from the London Metropolitan University in 2005. She is the author of two books, ‘Pakistan Encounter with Democracy’ and ‘Pakistan: Beyond the Crisis.’