30 August, 2017
Former Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit sent an official letter to Islamabad's ambassador to the United States Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, pointing out to him that he was "the worst foreign secretary ever".
He added that removing Chaudhry from his post would greatly benefit Pakistan as he would end up becoming "the worst Pakistan Ambassador in Washington DC".
The July 5, 2017 letter, which began circulating on the social media earlier in the day, has not been confirmed or denied by the Foreign Office.
He further said that if Chaudhry was not removed then he should not be at least given any extension beyond February 27, 2018, the date of his retirement.
The Ufa joint statement had been criticised at the time for being the first Prime Minister-level joint statement in which Kashmir was not specifically mentioned.
It is also written that Basit fears Chaudhry will also be the worst Pakistan ambassador in Washington DC.
"May Allah help Pakistan when people like you with weak and dubious credentials are at such important positions", Basit ended the letter with these grim words. Basit also claims Chaudhry's heart is not in the right place, saying "in this regard the less said the better".
He asserted that Chaudhry was not made for the "delicate profession of diplomacy" and cited the Ufa joint statement with India and Pakistan's failure to get re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council as leading examples of his failures.
Exclusively pinning the blame of the Ufa speech on the Foreign Secretary and Pakistan's failure to win a seat in the UN HRC in 2015 is unfair.
The copy of the letter was also forwarded to the director of the foreign secretary's office, ministry of foreign affairs. Basit wrote the letter when he was still the high commissioner in New Delhi and issued it in reference with Chaudhry's valedictory letter of March 12, 2017, as foreign secretary.
There are reliable reports that pinpoint the elevation of Tehmina Janjua to the post of Foreign Secretary as the main reason for Mr Basit's resignation; clearly the former High Commissioner is holding a grudge. Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, too was unceremoniously removed in 2008 on the perception that he was not protective of Pakistan's interests.
