FO spokesperson named ambassador to Germany

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday approved postings and transfers of around two dozen officers, in the second round of reshuffle of the country’s senior diplomatic team.

A notification by the FO dated December 13 has listed the new appointments of 20 other senior officials as well, to various embassies, high commissions, and consulate generals.

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According to the notification, Dr Faisal will replace Jauhar Saleem as the new ambassador to Germany. Saleem will now serve as ambassador to Italy.

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Rahim Hayat Qureshi, currently serving as ambassador to South Korea, will now be the country’s ambassador to Iran and Shafqat Ali Khan, the ambassador to Poland, has been transferred to Russia.

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Additional secretary Middle East Mohammad Naeem Khan, will now serve as ambassador to Greece while Additional Secretary Africa Dr Ali Ahmed Arain will now be the country’s ambassador to Senegal.

Director General (Europe II) Malik Mohammad Farooq will now be ambassador to Poland.

Director General Human Resource and Career Planning Dr Zafar Iqbal has been assigned the role of ambassador to Romania and Director General Counterterrorism Ahmad Farooq will be ambassador to Denmark.

Director General East Asia Pacific Samina Mehtab will now serve at the Chengdu Consulate General.

Mariam Madiha Aftab, a minister assigned to the Berlin Embassy will now serve as ambassador to Bulgaria and Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a minister appointed to the Beijing Embassy will now serve as ambassador to South Korea.

Similarly, Syed Ali Asad Gillani, the minister attached to Ankara, has now been appointed ambassador to Uzbekistan and Irfan Ahmed, the minister at the Stockholm Embassy, will now be ambassador to Turkmenistan.

Dr Mohammad Khalid Ejaz, a minister at the Canberra Embassy, will now serve as ambassador to Argentina.

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Muhammad Tariq Wazir, another minister at the Canberra Embassy, will now serve at the Manchester Consulate General.

Zahid Hussain, a minister at the Budapest Embassy has been transferred to the Frankfurt Consulate General.

Some retired military officials have also been appointed to the Foreign Office.

Retired Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki has been named as Ambassador to Jordan and Retired Vice Admiral Ather Mukhtar as Ambassador to the Maldives.

Dr Saeed Khan Mohmand has the distinction of continuing as ambassador to Azerbaijan with a six months extension at the Baku Embassy.

The last major reshuffling at the ministry took place in September when ambassador Munir Akram was appointed as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, replacing Maleeha Lodhi.

In the federal bureaucracy, the last significant reshuffle took place about a fortnight ago when Wajid Zia was appointed as director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Yusuf Nasim Khokhar was reappointed to the position of interior secretary, among a host of other appointments.