Tehmina Janjua becomes Pakistan's first woman foreign secretary

Islamabad: Career diplomat Tehmina Janjua was on Monday appointed as Pakistan’s foreign secretary.

The first woman in the country’s history to hold the foreign office, Janjua will replace outgoing foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. Earlier local media reports had named Abdul Basit, the Pakistan high commissioner to India as the front-runner for the coveted post.

“Tehmina Janjua will assume the post of foreign secretary in the first week of March 2017,” the FO said.

Janjua, who holds masters degrees from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, and Columbia University, New York, is serving as ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, since October 2015.

According to the foreign office, she is a seasoned diplomat with rich experience of working in bilateral and multilateral domains both at headquarters and missions abroad, in her career of over 32 years.

She also served as spokesperson of the ministry of foreign Affairs during 2011 and as Pakistan envoy to Italy from December 2011 to October 2015.