{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["pakistan-42d5db80436a3c"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/riaz-hussain-khokhar-8c5d1e158d/","countrySlug":"pakistan","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/riaz-hussain-khokhar-8c5d1e158d/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Riaz Hussain Khokhar spent much of his diplomatic career dealing with Pakistan’s immediate neighbors. He served in New Delhi as political counsellor and deputy chief of mission from 1980 to 1985, returned as high commissioner from 1992 to 1997, and also headed Pakistan’s mission in Bangladesh. His later ambassadorial assignments took him to Washington and Beijing.","Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May 1998 made nonproliferation and American sanctions central to Khokhar’s Washington work. Speaking at Harvard in March 1999, he defended the tests as a response to India’s, while arguing that nuclear weapons did not improve either country’s security. He urged the United States and United Nations to encourage negotiations and linked disarmament to resolving the Kashmir dispute.","He was ambassador during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s hurried visit to President Bill Clinton in July 1999 amid the Kargil fighting. After his posting in China, Khokhar became foreign secretary in 2002. His tenure included the 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control and the 2004 South Asian summit in Islamabad, when India and Pakistan resumed a wider diplomatic dialogue.","In a 2018 interview, Khokhar recalled the difficulty of representing Pakistan under extensive US sanctions and argued that disagreement still required sustained engagement with Washington. He died in Islamabad on 26 December 2023."],"id":"pakistan:riaz-hussain-khokhar","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-8c5d1e158d69bdd24e69.html","name":"Riaz Hussain Khokhar","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["khokhar-herald"],["khokhar-crimson"],["khokhar-herald"],["khokhar-herald","khokhar-obit"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-8c5d1e158d69bdd24e69.html","relatedEvents":[{"basis":"tenure-overlap","country":"India","date":"1998-05-13","description":"India’s nuclear tests trigger American sanctions on aid, military sales, and finance. Months of negotiations follow as the two governments try to contain the dispute and rebuild cooperation.","id":"india-tests","note":"Named people and the recorded mission tenure provide the connection; overlap does not establish personal participation.","sourceUrls":["https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1998/05/1998-05-13-statement-by-the-press-secretary-on-india-sanctions.html","https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1998/11/1998-11-07-statement-on-easing-of-sanctions-on-india-and-pakistan.html"],"title":"Nuclear tests bring sanctions","url":"India.html#history-india-tests"},{"basis":"tenure-overlap","country":"Pakistan","date":"1998-05-30","description":"After Pakistan’s May 1998 nuclear tests, President Bill Clinton issued a determination on 30 May triggering U.S. sanctions under the Arms Export Control Act. Nuclear proliferation placed the relationship under renewed pressure.","id":"sanctions","note":"Named people and the recorded mission tenure provide the connection; overlap does not establish personal participation.","sourceUrls":["https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1998/05/1998-05-30-memorandum-for-the-secretary-of-state-on-pakistan.html"],"title":"Nuclear tests bring U.S. sanctions","url":"Pakistan.html#history-sanctions"}],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"76e294585d9da225","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2018-07-15","id":"khokhar-herald","locator":"Simbal Khan interview; introduction and opening answers","publisher":"Herald","title":"‘Pakistan has always had very interesting relationships with other countries’: Riaz Khokhar","type":"primary-record","url":"https://herald.dawn.com/news/print/1398579"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1999-03-26","id":"khokhar-crimson","locator":"David S. Stolzar’s report of March25 speech","publisher":"The Harvard Crimson","title":"Ambassador Defends Nuclear Tests","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/3/26/ambassador-defends-nuclear-tests-pnuclear-disarmament/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2023-12-26","id":"khokhar-obit","locator":"Opening obituary paragraph","publisher":"HUM News English","title":"End of a diplomat’s odyssey: Riaz Hussain Khokhar (1942–2023)","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://humenglish.com/latest/end-of-a-diplomats-odyssey-riaz-hussain-khokhar-1942-2023/"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 25 October 2026","id":"mission-df41a370e80eb9e5f015","locator":"Charge assumption/relinquishment dates differ from nomination, arrival and credentials. Raza start date has an internal overlap.","publisher":"","title":"2017 Year in Review — incoming ambassadors, printed page 73","type":"Mission record","url":"https://embassyofpakistanusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Year-in-Review.pdf"}],"topics":["nuclear tests","Kargil conflict","Kashmir","India–Pakistan relations"]},"schemaVersion":1}