By IANS,
Islamabad : After the fiasco of appointing a junior bureaucrat as Pakistan’s ambassador to France – a move that was later cancelled – it appears that the job may be offered to senior diplomat Jalil Abbas Jilani.
Quoting sources, a private TV channel said Tuesday that Jilani had been offered the ambassadorship to Brussels but he rejected the offer and now is likely be appointed the country’s new envoy to France.
Jilani has previously been acting high commissioner to India and the foreign office spokesperson.
President Asif Ali Zardari had created a storm when he quietly appointed Jahanzeb Khan of the District Management Group (DMG) the country’s ambassador to France while Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was in Sharm el-Sheikh last week for the Non-Aligned Movement summit.
The decision created a storm in the foreign office as the DMG is a junior service from which deputy commissioners are chosen for the provinces.
Gilani had immediately rescinded Khan’s appointment on his return home, with the episode only serving to further strain his relations with the president.