ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division has initiated an inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dr Diyar Khan’s death, a senior officer of the Foreign Service of Pakistan (BS 20), who suffered “stress triggering a heart condition/ attack” during training at National Management Course (NMC) at National School of Public Policy (NSPP), Lahore, eventually leading to his demise on 13 May 2024.
Sources privy to the development told Business Recorder that the probe was initiated following 16 senior officers of the Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP) addressed a letter to Secretary Establishment Division through Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, demanding a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dr Diyar Khan’s death.
“We are writing with grave concern the circumstances of the tragic death of Dr Diyar Khan, a distinguished officer of the Foreign Service of Pakistan (BS 20). The officer suffered a severe heart attack on 4 April 2024 during his training at NMC leading to complications which eventually led to his demise,” according to the letters addressed to the secretary by top senior FSP officers, ambassadors and high commissioners.
They further wrote that in the morning of 4 April 2024, Dr Diyar Khan faced undue and humiliating criticism from a junior directing staff over a presentation that induced stress triggering a heart condition/ attack, ultimately leading to his untimely demise.
Late Dr Diyar Khan was a senior officer of 23rd CTP (1995 batch) with distinguished service in various international capacities and recognition as a China expert.
“He did not deserve the humiliating treatment he received during his training at NSPP especially after his presentation on 4 April 2024,” they further wrote.
They pointed out that the case of Dr Khan is not an isolated incident “but a symptom of a deeply flawed training system for officers in the civil service of Pakistan.”
“These training programmes with questionable curriculum and teaching techniques have not been able to improve the capacity of officers or contributed to improved governance in Pakistan. A particularly distressing aspect of the training programmes is the undue stress and humiliation inflicted upon trainee officers by the trainers,” the further wrote.
“We believe that the case of Dr Diyar Khan should serve as a wakeup call for the civil bureaucracy and steps be taken to avoid such tragedies in the future. We; therefore, urgently request that a thorough investigation may be initiated into the circumstances surrounding Dr Diyar Khan’s death,” they demanded.
They further demanded that the inquiry should include an examination of the conduct of the training staff; the overall environment of the training programme; and an audit of the support system inside NSPP in such cases.
For such an inquiry to be credible, they added that it is critical that it should be conducted by an independent team.
“We also humbly propose that based on the findings of the above recommended inquiry and audit, the Establishment Division may develop and implement a set of recommendations to reform the training programmes and institutions.
This may include enhancing the qualifications and experience requirements for trainers and creating a respectful and supportive learning environment.
“We also believe that time has come to conduct an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the three-tiered training programmes and providing value for the public money spent on these programmes in light of international best practices,” the senior diplomats further stated.
Late Dr Diyar Khan was a career diplomat and an officer of the Foreign Service of Pakistan, and served as Director General, Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), (Economic Diplomacy) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Argentina from January to July 2023. In his foreign assignments, Dr Khan served in Pakistan’s diplomatic Missions at Beijing (2000-2002), Rome (2005), Kabul (2007-2008), Sana’a (2011-2013), Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to UN, New York (2014-2016), and the Consulate General of Pakistan at Guangzhou, China (2018 2022).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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