ISLAMABAD: High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood has been appointed as Pakistan’s new foreign secretary as the incumbent secretary’s retirement is due in the mid of April.

While speaking to Dawn on Sunday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “Mr Mahmood will assume charge of his office on April 16, the day when incumbent Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua will retire.” He said he had spoken to Mr Mahmood over the phone to congratulate him on Saturday.

Calling him a seasoned diplomat, Mr Qureshi said he [Mr Mahmood] had also represented the country in the US and the United Nations as well as in Turkey and Thailand.

Asked about the length of Mr Mahmood’s remaining service, the foreign minister said he had a long service ahead.

The minister said that during the recent Pakistan-India standoff, he benefited from the experience of the HC who had been called from Delhi for consultations. “Mahmood came to the Foreign Ministry for consultations and I benefited from his experience,” he recalled.

Mr Qureshi expressed confidence that Mr Mahmood would fulfil his responsibilities as foreign secretary. “We believe that Mr Mahmood will follow the country’s and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s commitments on foreign affairs,” he added.

Mr Mahmood joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in October 1985. After completing Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Government College in Rawalpindi, he did MA in History from Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad and then MA in International Affairs from Columbia University in New York.

Among other positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa), Mr Mahmood also served as additional secretary for Afghanistan/West Asia as well as director general for the US and the foreign secretary office.

His foreign assignments include that of Pakistan’s ambassador to Thailand and Turkey. He also served as counsellor to Pakistan’s permanent mission to the UN and a political counsellor to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

The government also hailed the services of Ms Janjua, the first woman to become Pakistan foreign secretary. “I have learned a lot and received a lot of help from her,” the minister said. He thanked Ms Janjua, who will be retiring on April 16, for her services and said she always handled difficult things with courage, bravery, clarity and with a smiling face.

In the current race for the slot of foreign secretary, ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg Naghmana Hashmi was the senior most, followed by Sohail Mahmood in the second position, and ambassador to Italy Nadeem Riaz and envoy to Germany Johar Saleem, in the third and fourth places, respectively.

Ms Hashmi, many believed, was not in contention as the government wanted to post somebody with sufficient time on hand while her retirement is due after a year and a half.

Mr Mahmood, Mr Riaz and Mr Saleem are from the same course — 13th Common — but the former is senior amongst them in intra-batch seniority. Another name being talked about in the race for the top slot was ambassador to the UAE Moazzam Ahmad, who is far too down on the seniority list, placed at the ninth rung.

Mr Mahmood’s colleagues described him as affable and workaholic. He is also said to be very strong in drafting. He has a ‘high blood count’ on the official performance grading. Moreover, he has a diverse experience of bilateral as well as multilateral diplomacy. He has also headed the Afghanistan and West Asia Division as additional secretary and remained director general of foreign secretary’s office.

His detractors, nevertheless, say he is a very soft voice and lacks dominating physical presence in meetings. One of them quipped, “as a matter of fact foreign ministers do not really want a domineering, combative figure as the head of Foreign Office bureaucracy. Ms Janjua, the outgoing foreign secretary, had also come in office with a relatively low profile.”

It has been reported that Mr Mahmood had a lucky career in the foreign service as he “has been at the right place at the right time”.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2019