Style Madam Secretary Appointer President of Pakistan | Residence Islamabad, Pakistan Term length 3 years | |
Reports to Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nominator Prime Minister of Pakistan | ||
The Foreign Secretary of Pakistan is the bureaucratic head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary, as in all other ministries of Government of Pakistan, works under the Minister who is a member of National Assembly. The Foreign Secretary is usually a seasoned diplomat, who is a Grade I 22 officer of the Central Superior Services of Pakistan.
Due to the unstable political history of Pakistan, the bureaucrats were usually the policymakers of the country. Similarly, foreign policy of Pakistan was mostly thought up by the then military/political rulers and implemented by the ministry of foreign affairs under chairmanship of the Secretary. Such was the case in the United States opening of relations with China, in which Pakistan acted an important role. It was the then Foreign Secretary Sultan M. Khan who was to arrange the secret visit of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to China via Pakistan. This visit paved the way to opening of Sino-U.S. relations under President Richard Nixon.
Some of other foreign secretaries, Agha Shahi, Abdul Sattar, Inamulhaque later rose to be Foreign Minister of Pakistan. The 26th Foreign Secretary was Salman Bashir, who was nominated by the ruling coalition in April 2008. He served as Foreign Secretary until 3 March 2012. He was then appointed as Pakistan's High Commisdioner to India. n Jalil Abbas Jilani remained in the office from 3 March 2012 to December 2013 before he was appointed as Ambassador to the United States in December 2013.
The current Foreign Secretary is Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who took the charge of this office in December 2013.