Foreign secretary loses job over opposition to UN probe

ISLAMABAD — Salman Bashir, currently Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, has been appointed Foreign Secretary replacing Riaz Mohammad Khan whose immediate removal has been linked to his strong opposition to the plans to approach the UN for an independent international investigation into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
The Establishment Division has issued two separate notifications — the first regarding the appointment of Salman Bashir as Foreign Secretary and the other directing the incumbent foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan to report to the Establishment Division.
The notifications was delivered to the Foreign Secretary’s Office by a dispatch rider after the secretary had left it. Subsequently, Riaz Mohammad Khan was informed while he was heading towards home in his car.
The outgoing foreign secretary had no prior intimation of these important notifications but had met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari.
During these meetings, he expressed his candid opinion that referring the assassination probe to UN would open up many awkward situations for Pakistan including its security network and even the nuclear programme.
Curiously, the notifications coincided with the important bilateral visit of the Chinese foreign minister and it caught the foreign secretary completely off guard.
Ironically just a few hours before receiving the notifications Khan wrote a letter to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi requesting him that he be relieved by May 31 after the review meetings of the fourth round of composite dialogue with India. He had cited health and personal reasons for the early exit.
Riaz Mohammad Khan took a strong exception to the way the whole matter had been handled. Hence it was no surprise when Khan, who has been the pillar of Pakistan-China relations, and previously served as ambassador to China, did not turn up at the dinner hosted by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in honour of his Chinese counterpart at Foreign Office later in the evening. And that is precisely the reason he excused himself from the Chinese foreign minister’s meeting with the president on Saturday morning.
The unexpected notifications on Friday were as much a surprise for Salman Bashir as these were for the outgoing foreign secretary. According to informed sources, a baffled Ambassador Bashir even telephoned his senior colleague Khan. The foreign minister who personally went to Khan’s room to express his sympathy on his indecent removal and asked him to stay on till May but failed to convince him. Khan politely conveyed to him that he had made up his mind and was on his way out.
Thus orders were issued late on Saturday afternoon announcing the appointment of Acting Special Secretary Abdul Moiz Bokhari as acting foreign secretary.