Daily Times

Ali Jehangir Siddiqui has finally assumed the charge of Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, earlier this week. The appointment of the scion of the JS family as envoy to Washington has created much furore in the media, and the reasons were manifold with his lack of experience in diplomacy being the primaryone. Having been part of an equity fund, he managed the family holdings including the JS Bank. That his father has been a friend and, allegedly, a business partner of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the outgoing prime minister, stirred a controversy about his nomination.

The ruling party defended his appointment noting that some of the prominent previous envoys to Washington included non-career diplomats such as Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan, Lt General (retd) Jehangir Karamat, Maleeha Lodhi and Sherry Rehman. While many of these envoys made their mark in Pakistan – US relations, they all had one common denominator – a track record of accomplishments.

The young Siddiqui, on the other hand, has gathered more controversies in his gilded career than accolades, including ongoing investigations by NAB into his business dealings.

The previous government defended the ‘daring’ decision to appoint Siddiqui as envoy to Washington on the curious plank of him being a graduate of Cornell University or being honoured as a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Others talked about his brilliant business career. But the most credible argument was the one hinting at his ‘association with President Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner’. It was even claimed that it was him who arranged PM Abbasi’s recent meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.

If true, access to White House in these testing times of Pakistan-US relations could be indeed valuable. However, it needs to be kept in view that Jared Kushner is quite a controversial character himself.Some time back his security clearancefor the White House was revoked. There are ongoing investigations into alleged Russian interference in US Presidential Elections 2016 and other relatedallegations on Trump family. Siddiqui runs the risk of becoming a one-trick pony with littlediplomatic prowessother than his much-touted association with Kushner.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that the next elected government would choose to keep Siddiqui. Technically, all contract ambassadors are obliged to resign when the government that has appointed them is out of power. The recent resignation of Ambassador Shahzad Ahmad in Qataris one such example.

While the caretakers may renew his contract, the next elected government is less likely to do so. In which case, AJ Siddiqui may end up as another Tariq Fatemi, whose stay in Washington as ambassador-designate was just for a few weeks.Whether Siddiqui’s appointment signifies a lack of available talent amongst career diplomats for such key ambassadorial appointments is another moot point.

Do we not have accomplished diplomats like Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Riaz Khokar and Najmuddin Shaikh anymore, who made quite effective envoys in Washington? The recent appointments of unexceptional career diplomats to key capitals such as London, is cited as a case in point. Sadly there is premium on loyalty and the right connections, rather than merit even in the foreign office.

There are many career ambassadors who could easily fit the bill for Washington, including Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua – a Columbia University graduate with rich experience of serving in the US; the Permanent Representative in Geneva, Farukh Amil with his solid experience in Washington and New York; the charismatic Ambassador to Germany, Jauhar Saleem – a graduate of UPenn and Johns Hopkins, who taught at Georgetown University once; orNadeem Riyaz, the Columbia-educated envoy in Italy, widely known for his skills in diplomatic circles.

Only time will tell whether the wager of AJ Siddiqui’s touted connections trump the safety of relying upon experience and expertise. Nevertheless, it remains unlikely that he’ll be able to stay in Washington for long enough.

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, June 3^rd 2018.