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