ISLAMABAD: A summary has been prepared to appoint former Azad Jammu and Kashmir president Masood Khan as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States, reports claimed on Thursday.
If confirmed, Masood would replace Asad Majeed Khan whose term will expire in January. The government has reportedly decided not to extend Khan’s tenure.
The Prime Minister’s Office could make a formal announcement about the selection of Masood later this week.
Khan was appointed to post in January 2019. He replaced Ali Jehangir Siddiqui, a career banker, who was appointed in May 2018 by the government of then-prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi days before its departure.
Siddiqui held the position for more than seven months until December 2018 before being relieved of his duties by the incumbent government.
Masood has also served as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, and ambassador to China.
His nomination is aimed at projecting the Kashmir dispute at the international level.
The development comes less than a month after President Joe Biden nominated Donald Blome, his ambassador to Tunisia, as his top diplomat in Islamabad.
“By the time this process [of Blome’s arrival in Islamabad] is complete, Ambassador Khan will be done with his tenure,” a report quoted a senior diplomat as saying.
The last US ambassador to Pakistan, David Hale, left Islamabad in August 2018, shortly after the formation of the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government. After his exit, Paul W. Jones took charge of the American mission in Islamabad as charge d’affaires.
He left Pakistan in August 2020, with incumbent Angela Aggeler serving as charge d’affaires in Islamabad since then.
