Politics at the Foreign Office

Professionalism took a hit as the semi-literate, uncouth, indicted and dishonourable were handed plum diplomatic posts

Attention: Khawaja Asif, under your watch as foreign minister, you’ve failed to clean the poisoned well that threatens to overflow and stink up the once pristine corridors of the Foreign Office. However, the blame is not yours alone. The real scofflaws are Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and General Musharraf. They wilfully diminished Pakistan’s elite service, once the zip code of the best and the brightest. The four fostered cronyism and favouritism when cherry-picking advisers, foreign secretaries and ambassadors for important capitals. Professionalism took a hit as semi-literate, uncouth, indicted and dishonourable characters were handed plum diplomatic posts. Jockeying for power turned the Foreign Office into a nucleus of intrigue. It was a disaster waiting to happen. And it has finally come to pass!

To see two senior diplomats meow like cats is unbecoming, least said. Abdul Basit, our former high commissioner to India, opened up his cans of worms against his service-mate Ambassador Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry. In his hate-filled letter, Basit declared Chaudhry to be unfit for the “delicate profession of diplomacy,” predicting that he’ll be the “worst Pakistan ambassador in Washington, DC”. Because, in Basit’s visceral view, Chaudhry earlier flunked as foreign secretary. He’s therefore worried sick the ambassador’s “heart is not in the right place” and must immediately be relieved of his post as our ambassador to America. Additionally, he pleads that the man not be given an extension when he retires next year. “May God help Pakistan when people like you [...] are at such important positions,” Basit wrote.

What a catty letter, or weird or undignified as many will comment. But equally odd is Ambassador Chaudhry’s reaction as our envoy to the most important capital of the world: “I’ve decided not to respond to this disgusting letter, and leave the matter to one and only who matters. May Allah be our protector and guide…He [Abdul Basit] wrongly thinks that he could not reach the post of foreign secretary because of me. He has since retired. Jealousy has no remedy. I just offered four Qul Surahs [verses], especially Surah Al Falak, and ignored the letter.”

Why bring God in their personal feud? Both the gentlemen need to suck it up and behave like adults instead of invoking God’s help, even reciting Quranic verses as ‘pious’ Chaudhry professed to do. Instead he needs to step on the plate and pitch for Pakistan. Even use a bullhorn to loudly tell the Trump administration and his generals that we are partners with America on their war against terrorism. Abdul Basit’s better angels should have stopped him from taking his fight with Chaudhry public. But we don’t know the real reason why he threw diplomatic decorum to the winds and allowed his animus to pen a personal letter of loathing against Ambassador Chaudhry. Perhaps he blames him for ‘stealing’ the foreign secretaryship that was within his grasp but Nawaz Sharif instead gave it to Chaudhry and sent Basit packing to India as our high commissioner. Perhaps, Chaudhry as foreign secretary badgered Basit to the point he resigned. To say that senior foreign service officers are disciplined species with the word ‘intrigue’ missing from their lexicon is a misnomer. Over the years, most Foreign Office guys have mastered the art of kowtowing, sycophancy and servility towards their political masters. They have been richly rewarded with posting of their choice, promising all the while to serve their benefactors while forfeiting their duty to the country they represent abroad.

I’ve watched the steady downward spiral of the Foreign Office. Here’s one example of chicanery by our rulers: Foreign Minister Asif recently tweeted that “Zardari should rein in [Husain] Haqqani his [former] ambassador to the US [for] taking credit of authoring US policy that President Trump announced.” Vice versa, let’s ask Khawaja Asif why his beloved leader made the worst ambassadorial appointments during his three terms as prime minister!

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2017.

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