Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s pick-and-choose policy while appointing officials in various departments continues. Even the Foreign Office was not spared, and a large number of non-career diplomats were appointed on a political basis during the last three years.

The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used his discretionary powers – like other rulers in the past – and appointed a number of non-career diplomats, even for important countries like the United States and China.

“Non-career diplomats do not belong to the Foreign Service, and there is a quota for them. Only the prime minister is authorised to appoint officials against this quota. He used his powers, so no one should raise a finger on this issue,” a government official said.

Even retired generals and politicians were appointed as ambassadors on this quota, while the prime minister did not even bother to consult anyone before making such appointments. The Foreign Office tried many times to abolish this quota so that senior officers could get a chance to serve as ambassador, but “political elements” always opposed this move, sources said.

According to documents, the prime minister used his discretionary power to appoint high commissioners and ambassadors in 18 countries during the last three years.

Lieutenant General (r) Javed Zia was appointed to Libya on non-career diplomat quota, Shahzad Ahmad to Qatar, Rafaat Mehdi to Spain, Lieutenant General (r) Muhammad Yousaf to Bosnia, Jalil Abbas Gillani to US, Maliha Lodhi to UN, Lieutenant General (r) Agha Umer Farooq to Nigeria, Major General (r) Shakeel Hussain to Sri Lanka, Kamran Shafi to Cuba, Lieutenant General (r) Shafaat Ullah Shah to Jordan, former minister Tariq Azeem to Canada, Vice Admiral (r) Syed Khawar Ali to Maldives, Nadir Chaudhry to Morocco, Air Marital (r) Azhar Hussain Bukhari to Syria, Masood Khalid to China, Major General (r) Azhar Abbas to Ukraine, Javed Malik to Bahrain and Arif Mehmod was appointed to Serbia last month.