‘Ex-servicemen posted as envoys on GHQ’s advice’

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the PM on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz told the Senate on Wednesday that the appointment of retired army generals as ambassadors to different countries were made on the recommendation of the General Headquarters.
He said that Pakistan was not worried about the growing defence relations between the US and India.
He said that out of 74 ambassadors and high commissioners posted in various countries, only three were from Balochistan, 39 from Punjab and the rest from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Those from Balochistan are Ghalib Iqbal posted in France, Abdul Salik Khan in Kazakhstan and Asif Ali Khan Durrani in the United Arab Emirates.
During the Question-Hour, Sartaj Aziz informed the House that appointment of two top diplomats was currently under process. Against the 74 posts, 19 ambassadors and high commissioners were working on contract basis and these included 10 retired personnel from the armed forces — eight from the army, one each from the Navy and the Pakistan Air Force.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) had sought details about the Pakistani diplomats posted abroad. Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi said that efforts were afoot to enhance the export of skilled manpower to foreign countries, particularly the Gulf states.
He noted that the National Vocational and Technical Education Commission and Tevta were running different technical training programmes in cooperation with the non-governmental organisations to produce the required skilled force.
Minister of State for Education Baligh-ur-Rehman told the House that the government had finalised a technical and vocational training policy to enhance the skilled manpower.
To a question, Minister of State for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar said that the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring Cell had been strengthened to achieve the goal of complete polio eradication.
Minister for National Food Security Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan revealed that 63 new crop varieties were developed by the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council in the last five years.