Diplomat at heart of cypher conspiracy appointed new foreign secretary

The federal government on Friday appointed Dr Asad Majeed Khan as the new foreign secretary of Pakistan.

A notification issued by the Establishment Division said that Dr Asad is an officer in Foreign Service of Pakistan in thee Basic Pay Scale (BPS) grade 22.

His current assignment was representing Pakistan in Belgium, the European Union, and Luxembourg as ambassador.

He will now be transferred to Islamabad to take over as secretary of the Foreign Affairs Division with immediate effect.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed the critical appointment.

The conspiracy

Dr Asad Majeed Khan rose to prominence earlier this year when he was caught up in the whirlwind of an alleged ‘foreign conspiracy’ to remove former prime minister Imran Khan from power through what Imran claimed was an engineered vote of no-confidence.

It was alleged that US Assistant Secretary of States Donald Lu, in an informal meeting in Washington on March 7 had communicated casually to then Pakistan Ambassador to US Dr Asad that bilateral relations would only improve if Imran Khan is removed from power.

Apart from Lu and Pakistan’s ambassador, the military attache and notetakers from the Pakistan side and another US official, and notetakers from the American side were present in the meeting.

Who doees Dr Asad Majeed Khan succeed

Dr Asad Majeed Khan will replace Sohail Mahmood as the 31st full time foreign secretary of Pakistan.

His predecessor, Sohail Mahmood, was also a career diplomat and had been appointed by former prime minister Imran Khan in April 2019 to replace his predecessor Tehmina Janjua.

Sohail Mahmood, to his credit, includes representing Pakistan in India as the High Commissioner during a difficul period. Other countries where he represented Pakistan include Turkey and Thailand.

Mahmood retired from service earlier this year on September 29.

Since Mahmood’s retirement, Islamabad had failed to appoint a permanent foreign secretary for over two months.

Instead, Jauhar Saleem, Pakistan’s current ambassador to Italy, was was handed acting charge of foreign secretary.