Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi slaps Prime Minister Imran Khan's Principal Secretary Azam Khan Kothapar.

ISLAMABAD (18-Aug-2020) Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has slaps Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Imran Khan Azam Khan Kothapar, according to Bol News Network. Allegedly, bitter words were uttered. After the bitter words, the Foreign Minister allegedly slammed Azam Khan.

The media report claimed that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wanted to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan. Sources said that outside the Prime Minister's Office, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister stopped Shah Mehmood Qureshi from entering and when he was stopped, bitter words were exchanged between Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Azam Khan. Sources also said that Azam Khan allegedly stopped the Foreign Minister from entering as he was in a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister got angry and slapped Azam Khan.

The sources further said that the incident took place in the Prime Minister's Secretariat while the foreign minister entered the Prime Minister's office after receiving a slap in the face and also complained to the Prime Minister. It may be recalled that Azam Khan is the second senior bureaucrat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to serve as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Earlier, Shamshir Ali Khan was the second government employee to hold the post for a short period.

Most of the Punjab officers have held this post. Officers from Sindh, Balochistan and KP have rarely held the post. Azam Khan has been in a difficult situation recently. Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secretary general Jahangir Tareen accused him of conspiracy and blamed him for stepping down along with the prime minister. Shehzad Arbab, former chief secretary of KP, also pointed a finger at Azam Khan when he was removed from office.