Pak envoy's departure not abrupt as alleged by Maryam Nawaz

New Delhi, April 7 Pakistans former ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, returned to Islamabad on March 24 after completing his tenure and did not leave the country abruptly, the embassy record shows, Dawn reported.

Ambassador Khan arrived in Washington soon after his predecessor, Ambassador Jehangir Siddiqui, relinquished his job on December 25, 2018, and he presented his credentials to former US President Donald Trump on January 11, 2019.

Asad Khan completed his three-year term on January 11, 2022, but stayed in Washington till March 24 on the arrival of ambassador-designate Sardar Masood Khan. Asad Khan is now Pakistan's ambassador-designate in Brussels.

Earlier, at a news briefing in Lahore on Tuesday, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had described Asad Khan as the main character behind the so-called ‘threat letter' controversy, which blames the Joe Biden administration in the US for backing the move to topple the PTI government in Pakistan.

"The letter was a drama and that is why the ambassador [Khan] was transferred to Brussels overnight," she had said.

But records maintained at the Pakistan Embassy and media reports showed that "there's nothing abrupt about Ambassador Khan's arrival or departure", a diplomatic source said, Dawn reported.