Pakistan’s embassies and consulates around the world are failing their most basic purpose. These institutions are supposed to be the frontline of our diplomacy — our voice, our image, and our gateway to opportunity abroad. Instead, they have become ceremonial hubs of inefficiency, selective service, and shocking irrelevance.
In 2025, diplomacy demands agility, innovation, and strategic thinking. Yet our missions seem stuck in 1982. While other nations send trade-savvy envoys and cultural ambassadors, we send bureaucrats who are still busy finalising Independence Day menus instead of closing investment deals. It’s a system where embassy staff routinely use Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail for “official” communications, while the rest of the world moves forward with secure digital diplomacy.
Even more disturbing is the treatment of Pakistan’s diaspora — over 9 million who contribute billions in remittances. Instead of embracing them as partners, many consulates treat them with bureaucratic disdain, suspicion, and indifference. While other countries build bridges with their overseas citizens, we build walls and spyglasses.
Embassy websites are broken. Press releases are outdated. Trade officers often seem unsure whether their job is to promote exports or simply fill monthly reports. If you show interest in investing in Pakistan, good luck getting a serious response — unless, of course, you’re bringing biryani to the next national day lunch.
This isn’t about money or resources. It’s a mindset crisis — where protocol is valued more than performance, and appearances matter more than achievements. Everyone talks about reform, but no one wants the accountability that true reform demands.
As Allama Iqbal famously reminded us ‘Nahin tera nasheman qasr-e-sultani ke gumbad par; Tu shaheen hai, basera kar paharon ki chataano par’, it’s time our foreign missions rose to the level of that vision — and stopped settling for soft sofas and safe mediocrity.
Faisal I Siddiqi
Mississauga, Canada
