Special Assistant to Prime Minister for National Affairs Irfan Siddiqui has been promoted to the status of Advisor and would head the newly created division of National History and Literary Heritage. How this transition was made from him weighing in on the Iran-Saudi conflict one day and on the importance of literary and cultural heritage the next remains an enigma. However one thing is certain, Mr. Prime Minister likes what he hears from Mr. Siddique and has decided to keep him close, even if that meant magically conjuring an entire division for the sake of propriety, or lack thereof.

Irfan Siddiqui recently took a confident stance on behalf of Pakistan and said that it did not want to strain ties with either Iran or Saudi Arabia, and would not take sides. In another bold step the special adviser to Nawaz Sharif, cautioned India against pointing fingers at Pakistan in the wake of the Pathankot attack saying that, “India should understand that Pakistan itself had been one of the greatest victims of terrorist attacks on its soil.”

He has played his role as advisor on national affairs well and it is surely another feather in his cap as he has been a critically acclaimed journalist since the 1990s and has held various posts like press secretary to president Mr. Mohammad Rafique Tarrar in January 1998. While he is more than qualified to be the Advisor of National History and Literary Heritage division, having had an illustrious career in education as well, his expertise could have been put to better use than managing of institutions like Pakistan Academy of Letters, Quaid-e-Azam Papers Wing, Urdu Dictionary Board, Urdu Science Board amongst others. Perhaps the move is just to keep Mr. Siddiqui close without stepping on the toes of other more senior advisors on foreign affairs, or maybe there is just a newfound concern for heritage, either way we hope he does justice to the post he holds, whatever it may be.