ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office announced the appointment of Maj Gen (r) Mahmud Ali Durrani as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States. He will replace General (r) Jehangir Karamat after the expiry of Karamat’s two-year stint in Washington.
Durrani graduated from the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961 and served in various command, staff and instructional capacities during his army career.
He attended a mid-career Armour course in US in 1973 and the Basic Airborne Course in Fort Benning in 1982. He served as Pakistan’s defence and military attaché to Washington from 1977 to 1982. He also served as chairman and chief executive of Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board from 1992-1998. Following his retirement, Durrani became actively involved in the Indo-Pak peace process in an unofficial capacity.
He has also worked with ex-officials from the US, Russia and Iran to find a settlement to the Afghan crisis, as part of a UN-sponsored peace process.
Durrani also served in the Governing Council of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), London from 2001 to 2004.
He is the author of several books including “India and Pakistan – The Cost of Conflict and the Benefits of Peace”, “Pakistan’s Security Imperatives Year 2000 and Beyond”, “Enhancing Security Through a Cooperative Border Monitoring Experiment: A Proposal for India and Pakistan”, and “Pakistan’s Strategic Thinking and the Role of Nuclear Weapons”.
Do you see the 'r' after his name, that means hes no LONGER a serving officer, but a civilian. Its a good thing they dont put PPP jiayalaz as ambassadors
^^ Aahaa! I gave army haters (or Pakistan haters?) all the ammunition. shame.
that’s what I was thinking while posting this thread. Maliha Lodhi (whose love for liberalism and democracy was evident from her loooooooooong newspaper articles) was probably the first ambassador to US under Musharraf. Then we had Ashraf Jahangir Kazi (a creer diplomat. former ambassador to India. now UN representative in Iraq) heading the embassy. Then came Karamat sahib (a ‘sacked’ general). Now we have Durrani sahib. His credentials look impressive. But I agree… We have plenty of capable career diplomats. These people should be given preference over these journos and retired generals.
Haris, I don’t know.. I’ve read an article that Islamabad wasn’t really satisfied with Karamat’s performance. But these reports are nothing but rumors..
Maj Gen (r) Mahmud Ali Durrani is a good choice to succeed General Karamat - who asked to be retired himself last year.
Appointing ex-military generals has been a common practice going back to ZAB's days. He appointed General Tikka Khan (infamous for his role in the 1971 war) to be the Federal Defence Minister, and later Benazir appointed him Governor of Punjab. Later on BB appointed General Naseerullah Khan Babur as the Interior Minister in her second government.
This only proves that, all civilan governments that you’ve mentioned have always had fauji influence over them, in other words, they were never 100% civilian ever.
Just curious, was there a civilian govt who sent an army man to US as ambassador before? Remember, US is not Somalia or Sudan or Mongolia but a very important “ally”/“customer” etc. To me this looks like “andha batayn rewrian apnay hee apnon ko”.
I don't think it proves that at all. General Tikka Khan was actively sought out by Zulfikar Bhutto to join the PPP, despite his odious behaviour during the 1971 war. Even during Zia's time Tikka remained a steadfast PPP loyalist. What it probably proves is that ZAB was actively part of the whole 1971 cabal, and everything that ensued from that.
There is a difference between appointing a handful of Army men, and spreading them everywhere as this Army govt has done, at the expense at those who have worked hard to attain position their whole life.
The whole reason the CSP is no longer such an attractive scheme as it was before the Army took everything.
A few honest army men like Maj Gen Durrani , are better than a General like Tikka Khan, especially after what he did in the 1971 war. They are also better than a General like Naseerullah Khan Babur who committed such vast human rights abuses against Mohajirs in the 1993-96 period.
