Pakistan's Counsel General in Dubai, Ahmed Amjad Ali has demanded the country's Foreign Office to allow him to hire two more phone operators and that their salary be paid out of the Pakistan Community Welfare and Education (PCWE) Fund.
In an email on Tuesday with the subject "Prime Minister direction to improve consular service", Ali stated that the average salary of phone operators is 7,000 Dirhams in Dubai and that he will hire two phone operators for 2,500 Dirhams each, reported The Frontier Post.
He also said that the Etisalat phone company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has informed him that more than 400 telephone calls on a daily basis are not answered at the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai.
This comes amid reports of several Pakistani embassies around the world asking the Foreign Office for more budget in order to improve its performance and consular service in different countries.
According to The Frontier Post, the issue with Pakistani embassies and consulates around the world is due to either incompetence or lavish lifestyles, accompanied by an inability to facilitate expatriates.
Last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had rebuked his diplomats while addressing his envoys posted around the world virtually, for their failure to serve overseas Pakistanis and bring in investment into the country.
"We cannot continue like this. The way our embassies are running, this could work in an old colonial system but not in today's Pakistan. Embassies' foremost work is to service the diaspora and then they should work to bring investment into the country that is going through very bad financial conditions right now," he said.
"They spend hefty amount but there is a lack of compassion from your end... serve them properly... they are the force this country is running on," he added.
This caused an uproar ensued at Pakistan's Foreign Office, where several diplomats lodged a strong protest with the country's foreign minister and foreign secretary for 'scapegoating' them.
"I can tell you the PM's remarks have demoralised the entire foreign service... It appears the prime minister was not properly briefed about the working of the foreign service," a Foreign Office official said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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