FO officials decorated for exemplary services

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan Day was celebrated and outstanding Pakistanis were being honored and recognised for exemplary services to their country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs too had reason to be proud as two of its distinguished diplomats were decorated by President Mamnoon Hussain.

Shahbaz Hussain and Liaquat Ali Warraich were conferred on the civil award of Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for their heroic services while saving the lives of 7,000 stranded Pakistanis from Libya in 2014 during the mass evacuation.

"This is a matter of great honour and pride for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs", spokesman at the ministry commented. He pointed out that despite the fact that there was grave threat to the lives of Hussain and Warraich, both "displayed exceptional courage" while performing their duties at the Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli.

They ensured the protection and safe evacuation of stranded Pakistanis from conflict zones, during the crisis. Spread over four months, the operation entailed locating individual Pakistanis, moving them to safe locations, providing basic amenities at those locations and ensuring safe repatriation. The sense of responsibility and dedication, well beyond the call of duty, is in line with the highest tradition of diplomatic assignment that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects from its officers", added the spokesman in a statement.

It is not often that the government takes note of the heroes of the Foreign Office during peace and in time of conflict. At all time of crisis as has been seen in the past, special crisis management centres are set up abroad and are monitored round the clock at head office in Islamabad with updates shared with the media.

Special mention has to be made of one of biggest and certainly most successful operations during the crisis in Libya, where many times Pakistani diplomats stepped in to even rescue stranded citizens from other nations.

Another crisis was evacuating Pakistanis from strife-torn Yemen where eleven Indians were among those evacuated from the southeastern city of Mikallah by the sea. Brave hearts and unsung heroes like Hussain and Warriach are faceless officials as their bravery is known only to their immediate circles and this decision to honor them is indeed welcome and a feather in the cap for the Foreign Office.