Embassy record shows Asad Majeed Khan’s departure rightful
The allegations levelled by a group of journalists regarding Pakistan’s ex-envoy to US Asad Majeed Khan were proved wrong.
WASHINGTON: The allegations levelled by a group of journalists regarding the suspicious departure Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan were proved wrong as the embassy record showed the real picture.
According to a report published in Dawn newspaper today, the Pakistani envoy to the US Asad Majeed Khan had returned to Islamabad on March 24 after completing his tenure and did not leave the country abruptly, the embassy record shows.
Khan arrived in Washington soon after his predecessor, Ambassador Jehangir Siddiqui, relinquished his job on Dec 25, 2018, and he presented his credentials to former US president Donald Trump on Jan 11, 2019.
Ambassador Asad Khan completed his three-year term on Jan 11, 2022, but stayed in Washington till March 24 on the arrival of ambassador-designate Sardar Masood Khan. Ambassador Asad Khan is now Pakistan’s ambassador-designate in Brussels.
On the other hand, the records maintained at the Pakistan Embassy and media reports showed that “there’s nothing abrupt about Ambassador Khan’s arrival or departure”, as a diplomatic source said.
The news about diplomatic changes in Washington, Brussels and Riyadh first appeared in the Pakistani media in October last year, stating that Masood Khan, the 27th president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, is going to Washington as the country’s new envoy.
The reports pointed out that he would replace Ambassador Asad Khan who is going to Brussels as the new envoy to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg.
On Nov 4, 2021, the Pakistan Embassy in Washington confirmed that it had received nomination papers for Ambassador Masood Khan. The embassy submitted Mr Khan’s agrément to the State Department later that month.
In February, the Biden administration approved Mr Khan’s papers, starting the process for his arrival in Washington. The approval took longer than usual because of the Covid-19 pandemic which had impacted the entire administrative machinery across the United States.
The delay, however, gave the Indian lobby in the US an opportunity to launch a vilifying campaign against Mr Khan because of his Kashmiri origin and Ambassador Asad Khan played a key role in combating the propaganda against his senior. Ambassador Asad Khan, although a grade-22 career diplomat, is junior to Masood Khan who had retired from service after representing Pakistan at the UN and in China as an ambassador.
On the evening of his departure, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Chairwoman of the Pakistan caucus in the US Congress, presented to him Certificate of Congressional Recognition for his efforts in promoting US-Pakistan relations.
“I firmly believe that our future lies in further strengthening Pakistan-US partnership and working together for shared objectives,” said Ambassador Asad Khan while thanking Congress for recognising his work.
