19 FO employees posted abroad ‘went missing’: report

May have slipped away after landing lucrative jobs in US, Europe

ISLAMABAD: At least 19 employees of the Foreign Office posted in missions abroad have thought of their assignments as an opportunity to leave Pakistan and slip away.

They appear on a list of Foreign Office staffers who were sent to Pakistani missions in the First World countries where they promptly proceeded to disappear for good.



Whether they went on to seek asylum, became illegal immigrants or betrayed their country remains unknown to the authorities back in Pakistan because none of them maintained any contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after their disappearance.

These runaway officials were posted in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Mexico from where they skipped, and their whereabouts are not yet known to the authorities in Pakistan.

The popular destination remains the US where eight of these staffers disappeared followed by the UK with three, and two each in France and Sweden and one each in Canada, Switzerland, Spain and Mexico.

And all this happened during the last five years.

After their disappearance, all of them were served show-cause notices and later declared absconders. Some of them obtained premature retirement; some were dismissed from service, while others retired compulsorily on disciplinary grounds.

“While the cases of three of them are under process,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said while submitting the details of action taken against the disappeared officials in parliament on Wednesday (December 14).

Currently, some 1,962 employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are deputed abroad of which 1,002 have been posted during the last three-and-a-half years or by the incumbent government.

During FY2015-16, Pakistan spent Rs11.7 billion to maintain its missions and employees abroad.



PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also held the portfolio of foreign minister during the PPP regime, said: “This reflects an overall tendency of the Pakistani nation where everyone prefers to live and work abroad for a variety of reasons, including bad governance and lack of opportunities back in the country.”

He said the majority of such officials later claim asylum in the host country, citing different reasons. “Mainly low-grade staffers opt to choose this path,” he observed.

“To stop this practice, the government should look into the reasons and officials should be sent on foreign posting after thorough scrutiny and strict security screening,” Qureshi added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2016.