ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The government on Thursday ruled out possibility of leakage of classified information to the US by Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan through his spouse Susan R. Johnson who holds an important office in the US State Department.

“There is no reason to doubt his integrity,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar said while responding to a question posed by Senator Enver Baig during the question hour at the Senate.

He said Riaz Mohammad Khan was not foreign secretary when he married Susan, currently serving at the State Department as senior coordinator Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Affairs in Washington. He said he had obtained prior permission from the government before marrying a US national.

He pointed out that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became prime minister while he was in wedlock with an Iranian national.

The house was informed that there were a total of 13 employees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in BPS-18 and above who were married to foreign nationals. Three of them, including the present foreign secretary, had married American nationals.

The house was told that the wife of Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN (BPS-22) Christine Akram was a teacher in International School of Geneva. The wife of Additional Secretary Tariq Osman Hyder (BPS 21) Jenice Hyder is a Belgian, while the wife of Masood Khalid, additional secretary (BPS 21), Sonia Sunghee Song was South Korean.

The spouse of Abdul Malik Abdullah, ambassador of Pakistan to Senegal (BPS-20) Yasmin Abdullah is Japanese.

The wife of A.S. Babar Hashmi, Minister Embassy of Pakistan, Belgrade, Jana Stovoka is from Czech Republic.

The wife of Tariq Iqbal Soomro, counsellor, embassy of Pakistan, Bradford (BPS 19), Maria Lourdes is a Filipino.

The spouse of Zaheer A. Janjua, director (BPS 19) Kaen M. Janjua is an American national working as director (donor relations) Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, Islamabad. The wife of Ahmad Hussain Dayo, director (BPS-19) Liva Moleenar is a Dutch national. Nadeem Ahmad, first secretary, embassy of Pakistan, Jordan (BPS-18) had married an Algerian national Sakina Titah.

The wife of Ali Javed, first secretary, Embassy of Pakistan, Rabat (BPS-18), Laila Haeni is a national of Morocco. The spouse of Syed Ali Asad, first secretary, Embassy of Pakistan, Geneva (BPS-18), Matsuyama Toshiko is a Japanese national working with m/s Sharp in Osaka. The wife of Murad Ashraf Janjua, first secretary, Consulate General of Pakistan, Istanbul (BPS-18), is a Turkish national.

Senator Enver Baig said he was not doubting the integrity of the foreign secretary but anything could happen any time. He said the foreign secretary was already on extension and was getting another extension.

“Is it because of US pressure,” he asked. But before the minister of state for foreign affairs could reply, the chair refused to allow any more questions on it.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri in a written reply informed the house that there were 116 Pakistanis who had been detained in Iran for committing different offences including drug smuggling, illegal entry and theft etc. He said efforts were underway to secure their release and repatriation to Pakistan.

Answering another question, he said the government had been making persistent efforts to secure the repatriation of Pakistani detainees at Guantanamo Bay. He said many Pakistanis had been released as a result of government’s efforts. He, however, said efforts to secure repatriation of Pakistani detainees in US custody at Guantanamo would continue.