The appointment of Masood Khan has taken longer than usual to be approved as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US. After being nominated by the Pakistan government to the post in November 2021, he is still awaiting approval from the Biden Administration
File image of Masood Khan. Twitter @Masood__Khan
The appointment of Pakistani diplomat Masood Khan has taken longer than usual to be approved as the ambassador to the United States. After being nominated by the Pakistan government to the post in November 2021, he is still awaiting approval from the Biden Administration.
According to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI), the delay could have been caused by a letter from Republican Congressman Scott Perry to President Joe Biden, calling Khan a “jihadist” and “a bona fide terrorist sympathiser”.
Normally, the State Department takes four to six weeks to issue an agreement for Pakistani ambassadors in the past, a former foreign secretary said. “This time they are taking unusually long,” Dawn news quoted another diplomat as saying.
A top Indian diaspora group in the US also urged the President to reject Masood Khan’s appointment.
Who is Masood Khan and why people are against his appointment as Pak ambassador to the US, let’s take a look:
Who is Masood Khan
The 70-year-old Masood Khan is a Pashtun, who was born in Rawalakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He joined Pakistan’s foreign service in 1980.
He served as the spokesperson of the foreign ministry from August 2003 to March 2005.
From 2005 to 2008, he was Pakistan’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Geneva, Switzerland.
In September 2008, Masood Khan was appointed as Pakistan ambassador to China on behalf of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s government. He held the position till September 2012.
He assumed office as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York from October 2012 till February 2015.
After coming back to Pakistan, he ran for President of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Masood Khan held the office from August 2016 to August 2021 as the 27th president of PoK.
Masood Khan’s views on Kashmir and India
Khan was elected president of PoK two months after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani by security forces. Wani’s death resulted in violent protests across Kashmir.
According to the Indian Express, Khan termed Burhan a “hero” who had passed on the baton of resistance against India in Kashmir through his “martyrdom”.
In 2021, on the fifth anniversary of Wani’s killing, he put out a special message hailing the JeM militant.
In May 2019, in an interview to Turkish news agency Andalou, Khan said a “catastrophic” chapter had begun in Kashmir and that Kashmiris had become “fodder” in the election victories of the Indian leadership, as per the Indian Express.
Voices of dissent against Khan’s appointment
Perry in his letter to Biden last week expressed “grave concern” about Khan’s nomination. He said that the nomination can only be described as “a breathtaking lack of judgement”.
“(Pakistan Prime Minister) Imran Khan’s nomination of a bona fide terrorist sympathiser working to undermine our interests in the region, as well as the security of our Indian allies, can only be described as a breathtaking lack of judgment at best, and a demonstration of Islamabad’s unmitigated contempt for the United States at worst,” he wrote.
“While I am encouraged that the State Department has reportedly placed a pause on approving Masood Khan as the new ambassador from Pakistan, a pause is not enough.
“I urge you to reject any diplomatic credentials presented to you by Masood Khan and reject any effort by the Government of Pakistan to install this jihadist as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States,” said the Member of Congress 10th District, Pennsylvania.
Perry also alleged that the ambassador-designate is a supporter of terrorist groups Jamaat-e-Islami and Helping Hand for Relief and Development.
“We know, for instance, that the ambassador-designate is a supporter of the terrorist groups Jamaat-e-Islami, a group that assisted in committing genocide in the early 1970s, as well as Helping Hand for Relief and Development, a group that had no qualms establishing a partnership with the foreign terrorist organisation responsible for the brutal murder of 166 people during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks (Lashkar-e-Taiba),” Perry said.
A top Indian diaspora group has also urged Biden to reject the appointment of Masood Khan, alleging that the diplomat is a sympathiser and supporter of terrorist groups.
The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), in a statement, on 2 February urged Biden to reject the appointment of the “Jihadi-terrorist-sympathiser” Masood Khan as Pakistani Ambassador to the United States.
“Masood Khan has repeatedly demonstrated a soft spot for Jihadi-terrorists, including Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist operative known as ‘Lady Al-Qaeda’. His support to designated terrorist organisations under the U.S. law such as Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), and Jamaat-e-Islami, is not only inimical to U.S. Interests, but also to global peace,” FIIDS said.
With inputs from agencies
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