Staying around yet

Whatever happened to the “biggest shuffle in the ambassadors/high commissioners in the recent history of the Pakistan foreign office”? Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, as reported, had approved the appointment of the new envoys at the end of last year. Apart from new ambassadors in Russia, Holland, Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Algeria, Cuba, Nepal, Kenya, Yemen, Tunisia, Chile and Serbia, the ambassador to India, Shahid Malik, was to be replaced by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir. We are happy to report that Malik continues to be the Pakistani envoy in New Delhi — where he is a popular figure in the social circuit — and denies all knowledge that he is to be replaced.