Pak appoints interim foreign secretary

Islamabad, Sep 30 (PTI) Pakistan on Friday appointed an interim foreign secretary after the retirement of Sohail Mahmood as the appointment of the chief diplomat was apparently hit by the 'cypher' controversy'.

Senior career officer Asad Majid was the likely choice but his prospects were destroyed by the recent audio leaks of former prime minister Imran Khan about the secret cable sent by Majid when was serving as ambassador to Washington.

Khan had used the communication to build a narrative that his government was toppled due to a foreign controversy. In leaked audios, he is heard as asking his party leaders to manipulate the cypher sent by Majid for political objectives.   The timing of leaks coincided with the retirement of Mahmood on Thursday, leaving the government with no option but to make a stopgap arrangement when it assigned Jauhar Saleem the “look after charge” of foreign secretary.

“Jauhar Saleem, a BS-22 officer of foreign service of Pakistan, presently posted as special secretary, Europe, is assigned look after charge of the post of secretary, foreign affairs, in addition to his own duties, with immediate effect and until further orders,” read a notification issued by the government.

According to diplomatic sources, the government is planning to appoint Cyrus Qazi but it would have to wait as he is a grade-21 officer and should be promoted to grade 22 to become the foreign secretary.

His promotion is likely in November when a high-powered promotion board would hold its meeting to consider the upgradation of civil servants from different departments.

The foreign secretary is not necessarily the senior officer of the foreign service of Pakistan but he should be one of the grade 22 officers. After the promotion. Qazi is highly likely to be appointed as permanent foreign secretary.

Majid wrote the cypher in March as Pakistan's Ambassador to Washington after his meeting with US diplomat Donald Lu. Its contents were never made public but the statements by the then government of Imran Khan showed that America was not happy with Khan's government.

Mahmood retired after reaching the age of superannuation and a foreign office spokesperson paid him rich tribute for services to the country. PTI SH   AMS AMS