Fifteen non-career politically appointed ambassadors have been asked by the caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso to continue pending instructions from the next government, Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told Business Recorder.
This is in marked contrast to the decision of other caretaker ministers to change politically appointed personnel in their ministries and may be attributable to the portfolio of Foreign Minister remaining vacant, sources said. The 15 non-career diplomats were contractually obligated to step down as soon as the constitutional term of the government ended, however, they will continue to enjoy critical ambassadorial slots till the next government.
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary said that non-career diplomats were not supposed to resign formally, as they automatically lose their positions after completion of the government. "They will have been deemed to have resigned with the completion of the government's tenure," the spokesman added.
Dr Shireen Mazari, spokesperson of Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has questioned as to why all the political appointees of PPP as envoys have not stepped down when their contracts clearly state that at the end of the political government's tenure they will have been deemed to have resigned.
She demanded that they be recalled immediately as they continue to play a political role and they directly affect the impartiality of the caretaker government. Mazari added that the caretaker prime minister was undermining his impartiality by keeping these political appointees in their positions, since they are advocating the cause of a particular political party including in the media at the time of elections.
Citing the recent article written by Pakistan High Commissioner to United Kingdom Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, she questioned why a political appointed diplomat in that important country is misusing his authority by writing articles in favour of the former government at a time when the country is heading toward general elections. "Such efforts are clearly meant for influencing the general elections," Mazari added. Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan and Pakistan Ambassador to United States Sherry Rehman were among those non-career diplomats deployed by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government on political grounds.