Mistreating missions

Prime Minister Imran Khan has slammed the performance of Pakistani diplomats and embassy staff in various countries during a recent virtual address. It was a rare occasion where nobody would oppose Imran’s opinions. Ask any Pakistani abroad about their interactions with embassy staff, and the answer will be a horror story. Yes, there are rare exceptions, but even in these cases, a disproportionate number of people who did not go through hell also have instantly recognisable last names or crushingly heavy pockets.

The brunt of Imran’s ire was reserved for embassy staff in the Middle East. The PM spoke of how he has been told of embassy staff in Kuwait taking bribes and forging documents, while the ambassador did not even bother to identify the suspect. He also referred back to the much-publicised bribery scandal that caused a big shake-up at the embassy in Saudi Arabia. In many of the incidents reported to the government, the victims were labourers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This may explain why at least some embassy staffers were so keen to ‘lean’ on them. Like many ‘babus’, they think they are the public’s masters rather than public employees. This attitude only worsens when obnoxious babus interact with poor people.

Imran reminded the envoys that the expats that they have been holding in such disdain are the same people who are keeping the country afloat through their remittances. We must also remind them that none of Pakistan’s embassies or consulates are net income generators, which means that the same labourers that the diplomats are mistreating are the ones paying their salaries. The PM noted that instead of serving Pakistanis abroad, ambassadors and their staff appeared to be behaving the way Raj-era British officials behaved with the local populace.

Imran also called out diplomats for failing to market Pakistan as an investment destination, which is unsurprising, considering how rare it is to hear of Pakistani envoys interacting in any meaningful way with local business leaders in their assigned countries. But this probably goes back to the widespread belief about foreign service among CSS applicants. “You get paid better” and “you can see the world” are the selling points. “You get to represent Pakistan to the world” never seems to attract applicants.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2021.

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