Pakistan names Ali Jahangir Siddiqui as new US ambassador

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed prime minister’s special assistant Ali Jahangir Siddiqui as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States, ARY News reported.

Foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhary was serving as ambassador to the US before he retired last month.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has given approval for appointment of Mr. Siddiqui. The new envoy holds a BA in Economics from Cornell University, US.

In August 2017, Siddiqui was appointed as a special assistant to the premier with the status of a state minister. He is the son of the famous banker and businessman, Jahangir Siddiqui.

Ali Jahangir has served as a director in Airblue, Lucky Cement, Azgard Nine along with several other companies. In 2014, he was honoured as a Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum.

He also holds some public sector experience after he served as a member of the Privatisation Commission, a member of the Private Sector Advisory Board of the Planning Commission, a member of the Sindh Board of Investment, and as a member of the Community Development Board of the Government of Sindh.

When controversy surrounded outgone US envoy Aizaz Chaudhry

In August last year, A ‘hard-hitting’ letter written by former ambassador to India, Abdul Basit, scorning Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry  surfaced online blaming the latter for foreign policy gaffes during his tenure as foreign secretary.

The letter was dated 5th July 2017. Aizaz was appointed ambassador to the US in Feb 2017.

“The more I think the more I am convinced that you have been the worst Foreign Secretary ever,” Basit wrote in the letter.

The former high commissioner to India opined for Chaudhary: “…you would end up being “the worst Pakistan Ambassador in Washington D.C”.

He justified his criticism of Chaudhary saying: “First you’re not made for delicate profession of diplomacy”, Basit cited two incidents as example — the joint statement issued after a meeting in the Russian city of Ufa between ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in 2015, and Pakistan’s failure to get re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).

He pointed out the second reason that: “It is more worrisome [that], your heart is not in the right place”.

Basit called for removal of Chaudhary from his post as the envoy to US. Aizaz Chaudhry should not be given an extension beyond his superannuation in 2018, he said.

“May God help Pakistan when people like you […] are at such important positions,” Basit said.