ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON PAKISTANI DIPLOMATS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 003873 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/02/2016 TAGS: PREL PINR IN PK SUBJECT: ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON PAKISTANI DIPLOMATS POSTED IN DELHI REF: A. NEW DELHI 3417 ¶B. NEW DELHI 3289 Classified By: A/PolCouns Atul Keshap for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Summary: This message contains biographic reporting on two Pakistani diplomats currently serving to New Delhi -- a key posting for any Pakistani Foreign Service officer. The first, Counselor (Political) Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, will be of interest because of his meteoric rise through the Foreign Ministry. First Secretary (Political) Muhammad Khalid Jamali is essentially completing his first overseas posting, but he hails from a family steeped in Balochistan electoral politics -- his uncle was President Musharraf's first Prime Minister -- and his family continues to pressure him to join the "family business." End Summary. Bio-Notes: Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi -------------- ¶2. (C) Counselor (Political) Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi (Ref A) in August 2006 will be posted to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, again as Counselor (Political); he described his new job to Poloff as being the staff assistant to Ambassador-designate Major General (ret.) Mahmud Ali Durrani, a long-time Musharraf confidante and Embassy Islamabad contact. ¶3. (C) Qazi in 1992 served under former Army Chief and Durrani's predecessor Gen. (ret.) Jehangir Karamat, as part of his Foreign Service orientation, Qazi (as did other new MFA officers) completed a two-month rotation with an Army unit, in his case a under the Pakistan Army's 10th Division (Lahore) when Karamat was a major general and General Officer Commanding. Qazi put his medical training to work and set up a clinic for the unit, but he also participated in night marches, field maneuvers, and other day-to-day aspects of Army life. During this rotation Karamat instructed two of his officers to teach Qazi how to swim. The officers reported back that Qazi was "unteachable"; Qazi says he nearly drowned in the Lahore Canal during one lesson, and he cannot swim to this day. ¶4. (C) In addition to the five years working under Ambassador Munir Akram in Geneva (Ref A),Qazi says he worked for Akram "off and on for another few months," possibly when Akram was in Islamabad between his Geneva and New York postings. Akram and Qazi may enjoy a mentor-protege relationship, which may explain Qazi's swiftly securing several plum assignments. ¶5. (U) Qazi spent at least part of 2004, and possibly a large part of 2000-4, posted to the MFA in Islamabad. Internet hits indicate he helped plan a Pakistan Ministry of Women Development Summit of First Ladies of Rural and Island Women in February 2004, and was quoted by Pakistani newspapers in November 2004 on bonded labor issues (in which he was identified as "MFA Director Syrus Qazi."). ¶6. (C) Qazi -- who goes by either "Qazi" or "Syrus" -- hails from Lahore, where his parents still live. He loves dogs, and had an Alsatian for approximately ten years when he was younger. Qazi and his wife Shaza have three children: sons Mefaz (12) and Senan (7) and daughter Abir (8),who is interested in learning to play the violin. Mefaz has excellent English language skills, as do his parents. The younger children appear to have excellent English skills as well but are shy. ¶7. (C) Qazi is passionate about airplanes. He described his NEW DELHI 00003873 002 OF 003 current temporary housing in Delhi -- along the incoming flight path at Indira Gandhi International Airport -- as perfect for himself, though less so for his family. Qazi is very interested in visiting the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Annex near Dulles. He and his family also enjoy ten-pin bowling. ¶8. (SBU) According to Indian newspapers, Qazi in December 2005 was responsible in a fatal automobile accident when the car he was driving from Delhi to Lahore via the Wagah border crossing hit a husband and wife on a moped, killing the wife and injuring the husband; some press reports say Shaza was driving at the time. The accident took place 13 km from the border, on the Amritsar-Wagah road. Punjab police allowed Qazi and his family to continue on the Lahore. The police then filed a complaint, which undoubtedly landed in the MEA because of Qazi's status as an accredited diplomat. Neither Qazi nor Shaza mentioned the incident to Poloff. Bio-Notes: Muhammad Khalid Jamali -------------- ¶9. (C) First Secretary (Political) Muhammad Khalid Jamali is also leaving Delhi, for an MFA posting in Islamabad. He told Poloff he turned down an opportunity at the Pakistani Consulate in Los Angeles because it was not "a political job," and also because his family was pressuring him to return to Pakistan to take up the family business, politics. (NOTE: Many of Jamali's cousins and uncles are active in Balochistan politics; one uncle, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, was Prime Minister from 2002-04. Jamali said one of his two brothers was Chief Minister of Balochistan, the other ran a major state-owned bank. End Note.) Jamali has repeatedly told Poloff he has no interest in elected politics -- he says even clean politicians are tainted by association, and "the military 'fires' the politicians every few years anyhow." ¶10. (C) Jamali's MA degree from Qaid-e-Azam University included a crisis management course; his research project was the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Jamali has not visited the US before, but he mentioned that one or more relatives were educated in Texas. ¶11. (C) Jamali -- who goes by "Khalid" -- took Turkish language class after his MFA orientation. His first posting was to New Delhi in 2001; he was called back to Islamabad in 2002 as part of the Pakistan High Commission's draw-down during the 2002 Indo-Pak crisis. Jamali returned to New Delhi in October 2003 for a 3-year tour, which he is curtailing by several months. Before the High Commission was fully re-staffed in 2004, he also handled visas, and claimed his section issued 20,000 visas from Jan 1 - Mar 30, 2004, for travelers to attend the Indo-Pak cricket matches. ¶12. (C) Jamali's wife of less than five years, Zahra, was an executive for the Karachi office of one a global energy company -- either Exxon or Shell -- and may be on a leave of absence. She keeps herself well-informed on energy issues, and can talk at length about the economics and modalities of the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline projects. The couple were separated for the first year-plus of his tour, seeing each other approximately monthly while she continued to work in Karachi, but she joined him in Delhi in ¶2005. The Jamalis do not have children; both speak excellent English and enjoy playing volleyball. Comment: Significant Turnover at a Key Mission -------------- - NEW DELHI 00003873 003 OF 003 ¶13. (C) As noted in Ref B, the Pakistan High Commission will experience significant turnover this summer. Both the High Commissioner and his deputy, as well as at least the two political reporting officers (out of what Qazi said was "20 diplomats and 90 staff"),will be gone by summer's end. Although we cannot predict any policy changes because of this, it would be likely that such turnover would cause administrative hiccups for some months as a new team learns the ropes -- moreso if the team (like the new Deputy High Commissioner) are not already seasoned India hands. ¶14. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: (http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) MULFORD