As an avid follower of current affairs, I have studied Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s foreign policy as a case study comparison for introspecting into the current state of affairs of Pakistan’s foreign policy. Back in those days, the country was considered to be a leading power in the developing and Islamic world. It gained the respect of not only its admirers but critics too in the international arena. That was despite the debacle of separation of East Pakistan in which Bhutto played a controversial role. After assuming power, however, Bhutto, supported by some brilliant diplomats, maintained ties not only with the West but the Eastern Bloc too at a time when the Cold War was at its peak. Ties with the Gulf states also blossomed that led to the influx of a large labour force into these states where deserts were converted into urban paradise and remittances started flowing to Pakistan. The aim here is not to revere Bhutto as a diplomatic hero, but to show how mediocracy has gradually seeped through the Pakistani diplomatic apparatus over the years because of disregard of merit. At one point, we used to have exceptional diplomats like Sultan Mohammed Khan, Sheharyar Khan, Agha Shahi, Aziz Ahmed, Jamshed Marker and Sahibzada Yaqub Khan. Now it’s hard to find diplomats in the same league, barring a few. While it’s true that Pindi has influenced the country’s foreign policy over the years, it’s not something unusual for most countries. The US Department of Defence and the CIA have always influenced the US foreign policy and sometimes dominated it. As is the case now.Therefore, other institutions cannot be blamed for the ineffectiveness of diplomacy when the primary responsibility is with the Foreign Office. Diplomats play a key role in shaping the foreign policy in consultation with the other stakeholders, and they are the ones who implement it. Until recently I believed that the conduct of our foreign policy was finally steering towards the right track. However, it was nothing more than a mirage it seems, if one looks at how the government of the day has been appointing mediocre people to preside over some of the key diplomatic posts. Though Ambassador Aizaz Chaudhry had served as a foreign secretary before being appointed envoy to the United States, his performance in Washington over the last one year has been average at best. This makes one recall the famous diplomatic gaffe he made at the Ufa dialogue in a joint presser with the then Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. It clearly appears now that he doesn’t have much access to the US power corridors. Everyone knows how Abdul Basit, the previous High Commissioner to India, was bypassed by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. His much talked about letter to Aizaz Chaudhry exposed the deep cracks in the Foreign Office that were unheard of before. This has weakened the institution. Tehmina Janjua is, no doubt, a brilliant diplomat and I had the great pleasure of meeting her and seeing, in person, the sterling qualities that have made her the first woman Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. But she can only make a meaningful contribution if she is given the space by the government of the day to make appointments on merit. She can’t be assigned responsibility for the rapid deterioration of standards if ambassadorial appointments are to be made over her head. Many recent diplomatic assignments have accentuated the discontentment, discord and loss of morale in diplomatic ranks. An unremarkable junior diplomat like Shujjat Ali Rathore was posted over the objections of the Foreign Secretary as Ambassador to the Netherlands, just because of him being a diehard supporter of the ruling party. Now entering the final month of its five-year tenure, the government seems to be trying its level best to further erode the Foreign Office’s capacity by appointing two undeserving people as envoys to the most important posts abroad, on the basis of personal loyalty and nepotism. One is Sahibzada Ahmad Khan, a BS-20 diplomat currently serving in protocol and widely known for his personal loyalty to the ruling Sharif family, while the other is Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, an influential business tycoon with no diplomatic experience, but for being the son of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s personal friend. Both of them are expected to assume responsibility as envoys to the most important stations of London and Washington DC respectively at a time when ties with the West, especially the US, are in the doldrums. What is shocking, is that with over a dozen grade 22 officers and almost three times that number of grade 21 officers in the Foreign Service today, not a single experienced diplomat could be found for the key position of High Commissioner to London While Ali Jahangir’s appointment to Washington hangs in the balance owing to pending NAB and court cases, Ahmad Khan, the grade 20 favourite of the ruling party may take charge in the United Kingdom soon, despite the shocking fact that he has never been previously an ambassador in any country during his entire diplomatic career. London, being an extremely important diplomatic post, deserves a highly experienced high commissioner to preside over all the hard work done by the outgoing envoy Syed Ibne Abbas who is a grade 22 diplomat (like most career ambassadors in London previously). That great work may potentially go down the drain should someone inexperienced, like the blue-eyed boy of the outgoing ruling party, take over. What is shocking is that with over a dozen grade 22 officers and almost three times that number of grade 21 officers in the Foreign Service today, not a single experienced diplomat could be found for the key position of High Commissioner to London and a grade 20 officer is being appointed. Ironically, a grade 21 Additional Foreign Secretary, who is actually overseeing relations with the whole of Europe, has just been posted as ambassador to New Zealand; and a grade 22 FSP officer of Federal Secretary rank is being posted to Portugal. Are Portugal and New Zealand much more important diplomatic posts than the United Kingdom? It’s also unfortunate that the illustrious Ibn Abbas, who’s retiring in December 2018, has been asked to pack up and leave in a couple of weeks to make way for Ahmad Khan. Such an unceremonious exit is against all norms of diplomacy where outgoing ambassadors in important capitals make a series of farewell calls and farewell dinners starting two to three months before their departure. Recently, it also became public knowledge that some diplomats held dual nationalities and permanent foreign residencies when the civil service rules are very clear on that. Even Khawaja Asif, the disqualified foreign minister, held a residency and work permit for the UAE and was drawing a hefty salary of 50,000 AED per month as a consultant. I had the utmost respect for him owing to his blunt talk, but it’s unfortunate that he could not set a good example as a man of integrity. Moreover, his diplomatic faux pas on the FATF controversy caused quite an international embarrassment. What does it all show? Perhaps disregard, not only for the office but the country itself. Yes, there is no harm in having dual nationalities or foreign resident permits, but when one holds a public office, one is bound to either surrender such perks or come clean about the possible conflict of loyalty and interests. If such foreign ministers are repeated,and such under-qualified and controversial ambassadors are continued to be posted to keyposts, then Pakistan’s diplomacy is in serious trouble. We cannot rely upon such men to steer the ship of nation’s foreign relations at such a critical juncture. This would be a betrayal to the people of this country. In the context of our foreign relations much has been said about our relations with China. Indeed, mega projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are bastions of development. But for how long can we rely on just one ally? Do we not need the most careful handling of our foreign relations? Shouldn’t the state formulate and implement policies that are in line with the vision of the founders and past great leaders of this country? Churning out press releases by our key diplomatic missions would not make much of a difference if hardly anyone of importance is ready to listen to our envoys because they simply don’t fit the bill. If people at the helm of affairs are not ready to ensure that our diplomacy is conducted seriously, and they just want to serve their own interests and not the best interest of the country, then the Supreme Court of Pakistan — through the platform of this newspaper — is appealed to intervene by taking a suo motu action to empower the Foreign Secretary and prevent the degradation of the key institution handling Pakistan’s foreign relations, as a last resort. The writer is a geopolitical analyst and an alumnus of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, University of London. He can be reached at hassankhan440@gmail.com and tweets @mhassankhan06 Published in Daily Times, May 7th 2018.