Islamabad: Pakistan is unlikely to nominate its present Ambassador to China Riaz Mohammad Khan as High Commissioner to India even though he has been named by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as a probable nominee.

Riaz Khan is unlikely to be appointed Pakistan's High Commissioner to India as Islamabad believed that his recall from Beijing could send wrong signals to the Chinese government as he was posted there only less than a year ago, a local daily reported on May 22.

"Despite his competence, Islamabad would not pull out Riaz Khan from China, which is the highest priority country for Pakistan as it would send a wrong message to Beijing that Islamabad was attaching more importance to another country," 'Dawn' quoted an unnamed highly placed official as saying.

Instead of Riaz Khan, the government was seriously considering the present spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inamul Haq for the key diplomatic posting, it said.

Aziz Khan is due for retirement in three months. Riaz Khan's name was reportedly the first on the list of candidates submitted by the Pakistan Foreign Office to the Prime Minister.

The confusion was caused by what is now being dubbed as the "accidental" mention of his name by Jamali in an interview to 'Worldview' programme for Doordarshan last week. The Pakistani Premier had told the network that Khan would "probably" be the new High Commissioner to India.

PTI