Probe demanded into death of senior officer of Foreign Service

ISLAMABAD: Senior officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have demanded a transparent investigation into the death of a senior officer of the Foreign Service, Dr. Diyar Khan, during training.

This demand was made in a letter written to the Secretary Establishment Division, Inamullah Dharejo, through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Muhammad Cyrus Sajjad Qazi.

The letter said, “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 April 4, during his training at NMC leading to complications which eventually led to his demise. According to our information, in the moming of Apri l4, 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.”

The letter added, “He did not deserve the humiliating treatment he received during his training at NSPP, especially after his presentation. 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. 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.”