Foreign Secretary of Pakistan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan is the bureaucratic head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Pakistan)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also known as Foreign Ministry, is a Government of Pakistan's federal and executive Ministry which is responsible for international and Foreign Affairs. The ministry was created in 1947, and was one of the first ministries to be established...

. The Secretary, as in all other ministries of Government of Pakistan

Government of Pakistan

The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...

, works under the Minister who is the member of National Assembly

National Assembly of Pakistan

The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...

. The Foreign Secretary is usually a seasoned diplomat, who is a Grade 22 officer of the Central Superior Services of Pakistan

Central Superior Services of Pakistan

Central Superior Services of Pakistan is the civil service of the country. It was established in 1973 under Article 240 of the newly framed Constitution. The CSS Examinations are held in the start of every year to recruit the civil servants for the Civil Services of Pakistan.-Structure:The...

.

Due to the unstable political history of Pakistan, the bureaucrats were usually the policymakers of the country. Similarly, foreign policy of Pakistan

Foreign relations of Pakistan

Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in terms of population , and its status as a declared nuclear power, being the only Islamic nation to have that status, plays a part in its international role....

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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

opening of relations with China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, 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

Henry Kissinger

Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...

to China via Pakistan. This visit paved the way to opening of Sino-U.S. relations under President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

.

Some of other foreign secretaries, like Mohammed Ikramullah

Mohammed Ikramullah

Mohammad Ikramullah KCMG was a prominent figure in the administration of Pakistan at the time of independence. As a member of the provisional government of Pakistan, before the independence, he was Secretary and Advisor at the Ministries of Commerce, Information and Broadcasting, Commonwealth...

, Aziz Ahmed

Aziz Ahmed

Aziz Ahmed, , HPk, was a career Pakistani statesman and diplomat during the Cold war served as 12th Foreign Minister, serving under executed Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto...

, Agha Shahi

Agha Shahi

Agha Shahi NI was a Pakistani diplomat and Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1977 to 1982, during the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He served as the President of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad till his death.-Diplomatic career:Shahi gained M.Sc...

, S K Dehlavi, Abdul Sattar, later rose to be Foreign Minister of Pakistan

Foreign Minister of Pakistan

The Foreign Minister of Pakistan heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current Foreign Minister is Hina Rabbani Khar who took office as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 11 February 2011, and as full Minister of Foreign Affairs on 20 July, 2011...

.

The current Foreign Secretary is Salman Bashir

Salman Bashir

Salman Bashir is a Pakistani diplomat and the current Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 26 April, 2008. Bashir did his masters in History and LLB before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan in February 1976...

who was nominated by the ruling coalition in April 2008 after the previous Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan was sacked when he disagreed with PPP's stance of forming UN tribunal to investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto occurred on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan and then-leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, had been campaigning ahead of elections due in January 2008...

List of Foreign Secretaries

No.	Name of Foreign Secretary	Entered Office	Left Office
1	Mohammed Ikramullah Mohammed Ikramullah Mohammad Ikramullah KCMG was a prominent figure in the administration of Pakistan at the time of independence. As a member of the provisional government of Pakistan, before the independence, he was Secretary and Advisor at the Ministries of Commerce, Information and Broadcasting, Commonwealth...	15 August, 1947	16 October, 1951
2	Mirza Osman Ali Baig	16 October, 1951	30 November, 1952
3	Akhtar Hussain	1 December, 1952	4 June, 1953
4	J.A. Rahim	4 June, 1953	11 January, 1955
5	Sikandar Ali Baig	10 October, 1955	30 June, 1959
6	Mohammed Ikramullah Mohammed Ikramullah Mohammad Ikramullah KCMG was a prominent figure in the administration of Pakistan at the time of independence. As a member of the provisional government of Pakistan, before the independence, he was Secretary and Advisor at the Ministries of Commerce, Information and Broadcasting, Commonwealth...	1 July, 1959	11 May, 1961
7	S.K. Dehlavi	12 May, 1961	26 July, 1963
8	Aziz Ahmed Aziz Ahmed Aziz Ahmed, , HPk, was a career Pakistani statesman and diplomat during the Cold war served as 12th Foreign Minister, serving under executed Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto...	26 July, 1963	23 June, 1966
9	S.M. Yusuf	24 June, 1966	1 July, 1970
10	Sultan Muhammad Khan	1 July, 1970	31 March, 1972
11	Iftikhar Ali	31 March, 1972	1 January, 1973
12	Mumtaz Ali Alvie	1 January, 1973	7 May, 1973
13	Agha Shahi Agha Shahi Agha Shahi NI was a Pakistani diplomat and Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1977 to 1982, during the regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He served as the President of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad till his death.-Diplomatic career:Shahi gained M.Sc...	6 July, 1973	6 July, 1977
14	Sardar Shah Nawaz	6 July, 1977	29 May, 1980
15	Riaz Piracha	29 May, 1980	10 July, 1982
16	Niaz A. Naik	11 July, 1982	30 May, 1986
17	Abdul Sattar	31 May, 1986	2 August, 1988
18	Humayun Khan Humayun Khan Dr. Humayun Khan is a former High Commissioner from Pakistan to India and United Kingdom.. Presently he is serving as the Chairman of Institute of Rural Management .-Family and Education:...	3 August, 1988	22 February, 1989
19	Tanvir Ahmad Khan Tanvir Ahmad Khan Tanvir Ahmad Khan is a former career diplomat from Pakistan. He retired as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. He held various key diplomatic offices during his long career including serving as Ambassador in Moscow , Paris , Tehran and Dhaka .-Early years:Khan was born in Hoshiarpur, eastern...	30 December, 1989	30 August, 1990
20	Shahryar Khan Shahryar Khan Nawabzada Shahryar Mohammad Khan is a former career Pakistan diplomat who rose to the position of Foreign Secretary of Pakistan in 1990, and remained so till his retirement from service in 1994; he was later appointed as UN SRSG to Rwanda .Nawabzada Shahryar Muhammed Khan is descended from the...	30 August, 1990	29 March, 1994
21	Najmuddin Shaikh	30 April, 1994	24 February, 1997
22	Shamshad Ahmad	25 February, 1997	17 February, 2000
23	Inam-ul-Haq Inam-ul-Haq Inam-ul-Haq is a Pakistani career diplomat who served as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in the caretaker government of Muhammad Mian Soomro for four months in the winter of 2007-2008...	17 February, 2000	21 June, 2002
24	Riaz Khokhar Riaz Khokhar Riaz Hussain Khokhar is the former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan serving from June 2002 to February 2005, when he was replaced by Riaz Mohammad Khan...	6 August, 2002	14 February, 2005
25	Riaz Mohammad Khan	15 February, 2005	25 April, 2008
26	Salman Bashir Salman Bashir Salman Bashir is a Pakistani diplomat and the current Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 26 April, 2008. Bashir did his masters in History and LLB before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan in February 1976...	3 April, 2008	Incumbent

List of Foreign Secretaries

See also