ISLAMABAD: Dr Asad Majeed Khan, a career Foreign Service officer, was on Friday appointed as the country’s 31st foreign secretary.

“Dr Asad Majeed Khan … is transferred and posted as Secre­tary, Foreign Affairs Division, with immediate effect and until further orders,” an Establishment Division notification read.

He is currently the ambassador to Belgium, the European Union and Luxembourg and served as the ambassador to Japan and US.

He remained in spotlight earlier this year for authoring a cipher (diplomatic cable), as the then ambassador in Washington, on his conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu.

The cipher was used by Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to push a narrative that US had conspired with local collaborators to oust the PTI government.

Appointment signals govt may no longer be interested in audio leaks probe involving Imran

Dr Khan, his colleagues say, is a “very capable, but outspoken officer.” One of his colleagues said he is “outspoken to the extent of being blunt” and has the habit of “stating things as they are — a rarity in diplomatic service”.

His colleagues say he conducted himself very “professionally and ethically” in the midst of the controversy over the cipher.

He was this government’s first choice for this position when it fell vacant in September. He had even been called back from Brussels to assume the charge. However, the transition could not go ahead because of surfacing of Mr Khan’s audio leaks in which he was heard asking his aides to politically exploit the cable.

Following the leaks, the government seemed interested in probing Mr Khan’s role in allegedly manipulating the cable for political purposes. It was, therefore, feared that if the probe starts, he would also have to be appear before the probe body, which would then have bad optics.

The government gave ‘look after charge’ to Jauhar Saleem, special secretary Europe, and started considering the option of appointing Syrus Sajjad Qazi as the foreign secretary, but he was in BS-21 and needed to be promoted before the appointment. The board for promotion has not been held as yet.

Dr Khan’s appointment signals that the government may no longer be interested in the audio leaks probe.

His tenure would be relatively a shorter one as he would retire on Aug 17, 2023.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2022