Pak govt brushes aside 'baseless' Hina Rabbani Khar removal reports

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The Pakistan government on Tuesday said there were no plans to change incumbent Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, with a spokesman describing reports in this regard as ‘baseless and speculative’.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's House contradicted reports regarding the change of the Foreign Minister. He said the media had ‘insinuated’ from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent statement that a change was imminent.

While welcoming President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to India on Sunday, Gilani had said that a ‘new team’ would give ‘new impetus to normalization of relations between India and Pakistan’, the spokesman said.

The spokesman contended that the premier's remarks about a ‘new team’ were a reference to new Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani and High Commissioner-designate to India, Salman Bashir, who recently retired as Foreign Secretary.