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13 non-career envoys sacked

T A MALIK

ISLAMABAD: The government has terminated the services of thirteen non-career ambassadors, who were appointed on political basis by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, while five have been allowed to complete their tenure.

Sources said that these 18 non-career ambassadors were appointed by the former prime minister purely on political basis.

They said that the contract of Ata-ul-Haq Qasmi, Ambassador to Bangkok; Mian Riaz Samee, High Commissioner to London; Akhtar Ali G Kazi, Ambassador to Lisbon; Khalid Amir Khan, Ambassador to Tashkent; Salman Ghani, High commisioner to Port Louis; Amar Hafeez, Ambassador to Yangon; Agha Abdul Karim Khan, Ambassador to Oslo; Vice Admiral Jawaid Iqbal (Retd), Ambassador to Tunis; Adm Saeed M Khan (Retd), Ambassador to The Hague; Maj Gen Irshad Ullah Tarar (Retd), High Commissioner to Brunei; Maj Gen Zafar Mehdi (Retd), Ambassador to Bosnia; Lt Col Khawar Rasheed Pirzada (Retd), Ambassador to Madrid, and Col Zafar Iqbal (Retd), Ambassador to Bahrain.

They have been asked to come back at the earliest and new appointments have been made in their place.

The government has allowed Hameed Asghar Kidwai, High Commissioner to Nairobi; Khayyam Qaiser, Ambassador to Abu Dhabi; Khawar Zaman, High Commissioner to Canberra; Shahryar M Khan, Ambassador to Paris, and Maj Gen Fazal Ghafoor (Retd), Ambassador to Pyongyang, to complete their tenure. All were also appointed on political basis.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has also informed that Col Farrukh Ubaid (Retd) was appointed chief of protocol in the ministry, Brig Javed Hassan (Retd) was appointed consul general at London High Commission and Mrs Shahnaz Shahid Hamid, Counsellor, High Commission, London by the former prime minister also.

Mrs Shahnaz Shahid has been recalled to the headquarters, while the decision on the contracts of Farrukh Ubaid and Javed Hassan is awaited from the Chief Executive Secretariat, the sources added.