Islamabad May 18: Hours after the state-run Pakistan television reported that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has appointed Riaz Muhammed Khan, the ambassador to china as its new High Commissioner to India, the Foreign Office issued a statement in the wee hours today that no final decision has been yet made and that Jamali has been "wrongly quoted". In an extraordinary clarification issued at 2 pm (PST) through official APP news agency six hours after the announcement, a foreign office spokesman said that Jamali has not been correctly quoted and the final decision has not been taken as yet by the Prime Minister. State television in its news bulletin at 6:30 pm IST yesterday said Jamali has made the announcement in an interview to worldview programme for Doordarshan.
Khan himself told Pakistan media in Beijing that he has not yet been officially informed about his new assignment. He said he has received many requests from various journalists but refused to comment until he assumed charge.
Significantly the official clarification issued by the spokesman did not deny Khan's appointment to the post but only "clarified" that no decision has been made in this regard.
Bureau Report