Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced on Sunday that Pakistan’s envoy to India, Sohail Mahmood, has been appointed the country’s new foreign secretary.
Speaking to journalists in Multan, a city in southern Punjab province, Qureshi said the appointment had come following deliberations with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Incumbent foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua, who was Pakistan’s first woman in the post, will be retiring on April 16, Qureshi said.
He praised her “courage, bravery and clarity,” in the face of challenges during her tenure.
Mahmood, a senior diplomat has previously served in various countries including the US and has been the ambassador of Pakistani to Thailand and Turkey. He has also remained counselor to Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations and a political counselor to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.
“He is a seasoned diplomat,” Qureshi said of Mahmood, and praised his diplomatic contributions during the recent Pulwama attack in Indian-held Kashmir, which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of an all-out war last month.
"I am hopeful that he will fulfill the country's, as well as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's foreign affairs preferences," Qureshi said.
