Dr Asad Majeed, who authored 'cipher', assumes charge as foreign secretary

Dr Asad Majeed Khan of "cipher fame" has assumed his duties as 31st Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

Asad Majeed remained in spotlight earlier this year for authoring a cipher (diplomatic cable), as the then ambassador in Washington, on his conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu. The cipher was used by Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to push a narrative that US had conspired with local politicians to oust the PTI government.

Imran Khan's first audio surfaced on September 28, while the other came out on September 30. Purportedly, it emerged from the leaks that Imran, his then principal secretary Azam Khan and members of his cabinet, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Asad Umar were consulting about using the classified diplomatic cable for political purposes. Azam Khan had even offered to rewrite the cipher while penning down the minutes of the meeting.

Dr Asad Majeed Khan is a career diplomat. He was performing duties as the Ambassador of Pakistan to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union.

Throughout his 34-years diplomatic career, he has held many important diplomatic responsibilities.

He has also served as Pakistan's ambassador to America and Japan, while also assuming the charges as Additional Foreign Secretary (US) and Director General (US).

Dr Asad Majeed Khan has held the positions of Additional Secretary in the Presidential Secretariat and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

He also served as the Director General (United Nations) and Counselor Minister in the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations.

Moreover, he holds a doctorate degree in International Economics and Business Law from Kyushu University, Japan.

During his working life, he has also been serving as a resource person of many educational institutions.

Asad’s tenure would be relatively a shorter one as he would retire on Aug 17, 2023.