Tehmina Janjua became Pakistan’s first Woman Foreign Secretary.
Tehmina Janjua on Monday assumed charge as the new foreign secretary of Pakistan, becoming the first woman in the history of the country to assume the position.
Janjua served as a representative to the United Nations Geneva before being assigned this post.
She replaces Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, who has been appointed as Pakistan’s envoy to the United States.
Tehmina Janjua has assumed charge as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan w.e.f. today, 20th March 2017 pic.twitter.com/4wRWotnIiG
— M. Nafees Zakaria (@ForeignOfficePk) March 20, 2017
“She (Ms Janjua) is a seasoned diplomat with a career spanning over 32 years. She has rich experience of working in bilateral and multilateral domains — both at the headquarters and missions abroad. She also served as a director at the foreign secretary’s office, director general strategic planning, and briefly as a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs during 2011” according to the Foreign Office statement issued after the announcement of her appointment.
Janjua, the first woman appointed to the Foreign Office’s top post, was long considered a favourite for the position. Although Hina Rabbani Khar has served as the foreign minister (2011-13), no woman has ever held the post of foreign secretary in the country before Ms Janjua.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given approval to her appointment for this post back in February.
Contenders for the top post included the likes of Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi Abdul Basit, former Chief of Protocol and Ambassador to France Ghalib Iqbal, country’s ambassador to Denmark Masroor Junejo and Pakistan’s High Commissioner for United Kingdom Syed Ibne Hasan.