PM Imran Khan approves appointment of ambassadors at world capitals

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday approved appointments of Pakistan’s ambassadors to various world capitals including replacing the spokesman for foreign office Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, the prime minister approved the appointment of Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri as a high commissioner in Australia as the outgoing ambassador would now serve as ambassador in Norway.

Seljuk Tarar is appointed as an ambassador in the Netherlands, while the outgoing ambassador Shujaat Rathore was appointed as the country’s envoy in Spain.

Furthermore, Amir Shaukat is posted as an ambassador in Switzerland and Ameer Khurram Rathore as a high commissioner in Canada. The outgoing envoy from Canada, Raza Bashir was posted at the foreign ministry.

In other changes, Ahmed Naseem Waraich was posted as envoy in Portugal, Amjad Ahmed Ali and Moazzam Ali as counsel generals in Iraq and Melbourne respectively.

In a similar reshuffle made in October 2018, the government announced a major reshuffle in the diplomatic assignments abroad, including the proposed appointments of two career diplomats Dr Asad Majeed Khan and Nafees Zekria as Pakistan’s new ambassador and high commissioner in Washington and London.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at that time that the appointments of career diplomats as new Pakistani envoys at Washington (USA), London (UK), Ottawa (Canada), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Doha (Qatar), Rabat (Morocco), Belgrade (Serbia), Havana (Cuba) and Dubai (UAE) was decided after a detailed discussion with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Giving the details of proposed appointments, the Foreign Minister said Raza Bashir Tarar would be appointed High Commissioner Ottawa, Raja Ali Aijaz Ambassador in Riyadh, Syed Ahsan Raza Shah Ambassador in Doha, Hamid Asghar Khan Ambassador in Belgrade, Sahibzada Ahmad Khan Ambassador in Havana, and Ahmad Amjad Ali Consul General in Dubai.