M. Aslam Khan is the new Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC. He recently took charge as DCM, taking over from Mr. Mohammad Sadiq, who has moved to a new assignment.

Given the significance of the DCM's position in the Pakistani Mission, we requested an exclusive interview with Mr. Khan, so we could introduce him to you and give him the opportunity to share his views on important matters.

We always encourage our readers to stay current on the Embassy and communicate with our diplomats, all of whom are extremely approachable and helpful. DCM Khan is no exception. We have high hopes for continued interaction between the community and our Embassy under his leadership and hope you will find the following interview insightful and valuable.

Well, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity of reaching out to your readers.  I was born in Chitral, which is in the north west of Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan. It’s a beautiful valley and it used to be one of the princely states.  It voluntarily merged with Pakistan in 1947. Then it became a regular district of the North West Frontier Province, in 1969.  It’s a fascinating place, and I am very proud of belonging to that place.  That’s where I got my primary and secondary education. Then I came down to Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, where I got the rest of my education, finally completing my Masters from Quaid-e-Azam University in 1981 in Economics.  I appeared in the competitive exam in 1982, and I joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1983.

Well, in one of the interviews for the competitive exams, someone asked me this same question, that you have written somewhere that you want to become a scholar so how is it that you want to join the Foreign Service? My answer was that I want to become a “true scholar”, not an “armchair scholar”; one who has exposure to and understands the real world. That’s what a real scholar is about. I was interested in world affairs, history, people, cultures, and countries.  So that is why I opted for Foreign Service where I would get the opportunity and exposure to diverse environments and cultures and gain the kind of knowledge I have always wanted about the world at large. I am fully satisfied with my career, it’s been a very successful one so far, and I am enjoying every bit of it.

I’ve held various positions, which have all been very interesting because they coincided with interesting phases in recent world history.  For instance, my first position was as Section Officer for the Soviet Union, roughly around 1986.  The Soviets were still in Afghanistan, but a lot of changes were taking place inside the Soviet Union.  It was a very interesting time to monitor that region.  This was followed by my first posting abroad to Geneva, where I served as Third Secretary, and then Second Secretary, and got the chance to follow the Geneva Talks on Afghanistan, among other things.   From Geneva, I returned to Islamabad where I served as Director for Afghanistan.  At that time, Afghanistan was literally in a flux, because the Soviets had withdrawn and the mujahideen were in the process of taking over. Again that was a very interesting phase of Afghanistan’s history and Pakistan’s relations with that country.  Then I went to Tehran.  Iran is a great country.  It has a very rich history and civilization.  It is also an important neighbor for Pakistan.  So that was a very challenging and rewarding experience. From Tehran I moved on to Cairo, which I would say is the hub of the Middle East. I stayed there for two years.  I returned to Islamabad in July 2001, and served as Director (UN) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  So I was dealing with UN affairs and also attended UN sessions in NY. In October 2003 I was posted to Washington DC as Counsellor.  After a year or so I got promoted as a Minister, responsible for dealing with political issues.  In January of this year, after the transfer of my colleague Mr. Sadiq back to the headquarters, I have taken over as Deputy Chief of Mission.

The DCM position is well defined; it is a recognized position in the United States.  Elsewhere in the world what you typically see is an ambassador, ministers, counsellors, secretaries, heads of the attached wings like the military attaché, etc.  That’s how it generally works.  It is important everywhere to have a No.2 position. The senior most political officer other than the ambassador usually serves in that capacity. But in the United States it is quite formal, because the State Department recognizes the DCM position.  So in the US the DCM’s position carries some extra importance.  The DCM acts as an ambassador when the ambassador is away.  As a DCM my responsibilities are more or less similar to the Head of Mission.  I deal with consular matters, administration, political matters, military cooperation, trade and economic cooperation, and everything else that goes on in the Mission.  Having said that, we must understand that the team leader in normal circumstances is the Ambassador; I am the alternate leader.  When the Ambassador is around my job is to assist him.  We are very lucky to have an outstanding Ambassador. We have very effective leadership and you can see that in the way the embassy is working today.  We are doing our job in a very congenial atmosphere.

This is an interesting question. Actually, there is nothing different because the position is so well-defined.  The only difference is that everything has to improve with the passage of time. The institution has to improve and the quality of work has to improve.  My predecessor was an officer of great qualities.  He did a great job, took a lot of initiatives. Of course my responsibility is to continue and build on the good things that he had started.  At the same time the scope for improvement is always there. So, like I mentioned before, we have to work on improving things and do them in a better way.

There are several initiatives.  The community outreach is a huge task. We have a very strong community of half a million plus in this country.  We are very proud of our community, and our effort is to help this community organize itself.  It is a very resourceful community, and we understand that if it organizes itself in a proper way, it can help itself a lot in solving most of its problems.

We are already in the process of taking up all the issues related to the community with the US authorities. That is one of the permanent points on the Embassy’s agenda.  Luckily in view of the close friendship and the cordial relations that we enjoy with the US, the response from the US side is extremely positive.  They also want to solve these problems. So it is a kind of a cooperative, joint effort.

Similarly, we have several initiatives to improve our services to the community.  We have just introduced machine readable passport systems in two of our Consulates General (Los Angeles and New York).  This system will be extended to the other missions.  Previously, we had only two missions here in the United States. Now we have four, with two missions opening recently in Chicago and Houston.

Finally, there are some very important community initiatives, like Rising Leaders, which focuses on second generation Pakistani Americans.  We think it is a very important and encouraging initiative. We applaud the leaders of these organizations for what they are doing for the advancement of the community.

It’s going to be both things.  The Embassy’s effort is to unite the community and mobilize them as much as possible so that they become a potent entity in this country, capable of solving their own problems, looking after themselves.  We cannot also underestimate the role they are playing in Pakistan’s progress, through their remittances. There are several community organizations involved in the healthcare and education sectors in Pakistan.  So ours is a continuous and holistic effort.  Our endeavor is to improve things, to improve the quality of our service to the community, and to devise ways and means to solve some of the problems that the community is facing. There is no limit to that.  We would certainly appreciate feedback from the community; and we do get a lot of feedback and learn a lot from the community.  At the same time, the Embassy has its own efforts and we keep on researching how to solve the community problems and improve our services.

Outreach and communication is a continuous process with us.  Our website is one of the most up to date and well maintained websites in the Pakistan government system.  We are very proud of it and our effort is to improve it further.  We are in contact with the community on what you call a 24/7 basis, and we have a continuous process of interaction and communication with the community.  Every day we receive hundreds of emails from the members of our community.  Every day, there are additions to our email list.  People can also reach us by phone, fax, and in person.  So we don’t have any need to initiate new channels as we have all the channels in place already.  Our doors are open, our phone and fax lines are open, we have a website, and we have ongoing events in Washington DC and in all our Consulates, where we welcome the community and provide them the opportunity to communicate with us.  This is going to go on.

This is a big source of concern for us and I can say that it keeps us preoccupied on a continuous basis, because this is a critical issue for the community.  These problems exist not just in the US, but everywhere in the world, in the post-9/11 environment.  But they are on top of our agenda in our interaction with the US authorities at all times, and at all levels; whether it is a state visit or our routine interaction with the State Department.    Our effort is to minimize, to the extent possible, the undue hardship to anybody, especially Pakistani citizens and Pakistani Americans.  Security is a problem for everyone, but the critical question is how to balance the security requirements with the requirements of civil and human rights, and how to rationalize the security measures.  The attitude of the host authorities is generally very positive.  Like us, they know that these are the critical questions and issues.   So we are focused on these problems and it all depends on how the phenomenon of terrorism evolves with the passage of time.  Our own hope is that in a few years all these problems may be behind us, after the phenomenon of terrorism is no longer around.  In the meantime, there is need for positive steps for solving some of the immediate concerns like F1 visas and H1 visas, that we are pursuing. There are also positive developments taking place.  For example, one of the main outcomes of President Bush’s visit to Pakistan has been the expansion of the Fulbright Program.  We can now have up to 50 students at PhD level and 100 at post graduate level every year.  You can imagine what that means.  50 PhDs and 100 post  graduates rolling out of US institutions every year will be a tremendous asset..

We have, as you may have noticed, been very active in community and cultural events in the recent past.  We organize many events round the year, including musical events, book launches, art exhibitions, speaking engagements, etc.  Our effort is to enrich these events as much as we can to ensure that they are more purposeful and entertaining at the same time, and are of real value to the community.  The other aspect of these events is to project Pakistan’s soft image.  Unfortunately Pakistan has an image problem. The reality of Pakistan is always far better than the image that we have in places like the US.  Our effort is to bridge that gap and to help the American public see the reality on the ground in Pakistan and see Pakistan’s true face.  So from both the community and image building perspectives, we are going to continue these events.   But you have to keep in mind that the Embassy has very severe resource constraints.  What we need to do in this country is a lot more than we can actually do.

Yes, of course, we are open to any ideas and if they are viable, we will certainly work on them.  Our agenda is very simple- we have to project Pakistan’s positive image and protect Pakistan’s national interest.  Also, we have to keep these events meaningful and valuable for our community.  As such, we have to be careful in designing the events and choosing sponsors.  We have certain criteria that we have to meet.  But if everything works and the offers are free of personal agendas and support the simple, overall agenda of promoting Pakistan in a nationalistic spirit, then we are definitely open to ideas and proposals from the community.

To our community, what I can say is that I am with you, at your disposal.  My job is to serve you and help you as much as I can.  I’m counting on your support, cooperation, and guidance. 

The basic objectives of the community and the Embassy are the same.  Every member of the community is an ambassador of Pakistan; they are representing Pakistan in whichever area and field they are in.  We fully realize that at the Embassy and I would welcome the community’s suggestions and look forward to working with them very closely.

I applaud the great job that the community did in dealing with the tragedy of the October 8 earthquake.  As we celebrate the Pakistan Day, my request to the community is to keep that spirit alive, as we all know, the rehabilitation and reconstruction process is going to take a while.