PRESENTING CHENGDU'S COLORFUL FIRST PAKISTANI CONSUL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000203 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM, SCA/PB, AND INR E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/2/2032 TAGS: PREL PINR MASS PK CH SUBJECT: PRESENTING CHENGDU'S COLORFUL FIRST PAKISTANI CONSUL GENERAL REF: A) BEIJING 2802 B) CHENGDU 124 CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General , Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Recently arrived to assume his duties in Chengdu, Pakistan's first consul general to southwest China may have been picked for his current assignment due to his experience in Burma and military background. The JF-17 fighter aircraft jointly developed and produced by China and Pakistan in Chengdu brings a steady stream of Pakistani military officers to the city which appears to be host to a growing community of Pakistani students and businessmen as well. End Summary. -------------- -------------- The Debut of Pakistan's Consulate -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) CG paid a call July 31 on Masood Aktar (protect),the new Pakistani Consul General to Chengdu. Although officially inaugurated in an opening ceremony on April 18 by visiting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who was accompanied by a large military delegation, the Pakistani Consulate is not yet completely operational and Masood just arrived in Chengdu to assume his duties on July 24. During the April initial opening event attended by CG and other representatives of the local diplomatic community, Prime Minister Aziz highlighted the close military and economic ties between Pakistan and China and noted he was particularly pleased to have seen the JF-17 fighter aircraft, produced jointly by the two counties at the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation, make one of its first public appearances at a military parade in Islamabad in March. Pakistani Consul General Masood himself proved to be a most loquacious interlocutor. A bit of a "character," Masood frequently interrupted CG's attempts to respond to his questions with a continuing series of stories about his own life. What was supposed to have been a quick 30-minute courtesy meeting ended up taking close to two hours. ¶3. (C) Masood stressed in particular he wants to develop close ties with the U.S. Consulate because Pakistan and the United States are the only two countries with diplomatic representation in southwest China that share an identical consular district which includes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). (Note: According to a diplomat at one of the recently-opened European consulates here, a Chinese official once told his government that no new foreign consulate would be allowed to cover the TAR and that it was probably a "mistake" to have granted the United States access to Lhasa via a consulate rather than its embassy due to the close oversight by Beijing authorities of all sensitive Tibetan issues. End note). Masood's total staff will likely consist of two other diplomatic officers, four Pakistani-national support personnel, and between five to seven Chinese employees. The Chinese employees have been identified, but will not report to work until the second week of August. Masood said he is looking forward to their arrival as none of his Pakistani assistants can speak Chinese and they are experiencing a great deal of trouble trying to navigate local bureaucratic processes. According to Masood, the primary function of his consulate is to support and assist the growing population of Pakistani students and businessmen -- he did not offer a number -- in Chengdu and other parts of the consular district. -------------- An Interesting Background -------------- ¶4. (C) A member of the Afridi tribe of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province and scion of a local military family, Masood volunteered he was originally an army officer and was only transferred to the diplomatic service in 1973 following the break away of East Pakistan and reorganization by Islamabad of CHENGDU 00000203 002 OF 002 Pakistan's military agencies. Given Masood's "recognized skills" of dealing with the British as a Cambridge graduate, one of his first diplomatic postings was in London. He also served at the United Nations, in Mexico City, Rangoon, and most recently as Consul General to Jeddah. Although Chengdu represents his first long-term assignment to China, Masood said he was part of the Pakistani delegation that accompanied then-Premier Ali Bhutto during his 1976 visit to Beijing to meet with Chairman Mao. ¶5. (C) While in Rangoon in the late 1980's and 1990's, Masood claimed he had "excellent personal relations" with former military strongman Ne Win, one of whose houses he rented. In fact, Masood continued, he developed such good relationships within the Burmese military leadership that he incurred the jealousy of his boss, the Pakistani ambassador. While proud of his work in Burma, however, Masood remarked his just-completed four-year tenure in Jeddah really should have earned him the "Victoria Cross." He noted it was impossible not to make enemies while trying to carry out his responsibilities to protect the interests of the over 600,000 Pakistani nationals who lived in the Jeddah consular district. When "security types" at the consulate tried to have him removed, according to Masood, it took the intervention of a family friend of his in Pakistan's Senate to protect him and save his career. A Pakistani journalist in Saudi Arabia who tried to discredit Masood changed his mind after Masood invited him to his residence and reminded the journalist about the potential unpleasantness of "tribal justice." -------------- Other Bio Notes -------------- ¶6. (C) Masood is married and has three children -- one son (currently a lawyer in Pakistan) and two daughters. He will be joined in Chengdu by his wife and younger daughter. He enjoys classical music, poetry (which he writes in both Urdu and English),and collecting oil paintings. While he claimed to have a "easygoing" personality and went on at length about a personal philosophy that emphasizes "teamwork" in the office, Masood angrily berated one of his assistants in front of CG for serving his tea on the left rather than the right-hand side. Masood huffed that the unfortunate man, a fellow member of the Afridi tribe, should "really know better." -------------- Comments -------------- ¶7. (C) Given his relative lack of China experience (at one point Masood asked CG what kind of faux pas he should be on guard against in local social situations),it was possibly his military and Burma background that singled Masood out for assignment to Chengdu. China's border with Burma is in his consular district and local authorities have been trying to upgrade significantly the region's transpiration infrastructure to Burma and other Southeast Asian countries (Ref B). Our friends at the Thai Consulate in Chengdu (strictly protect) tell us they have processed about 65 visa applications for Pakistani military officers (mostly pilots) during the past year to transit Bangkok en route to Lahore. The Thais find it curious that most of the submitted passports are issued at the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing and do not contain Chinese visas. BOUGHNER