Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that by September, there will be a big shuffle at the ambassador level.
On Monday (Jun 10), he said: “There has not been any major shuffle after I took over but changes will come in the future.”
We want to carry out the changes before September because we don’t want the education of children of posted officers to be hampered.
There are almost 20 ambassadors and mission heads who have already spent more than three years or have been serving as ambassador overseas for more than ten years.
A foreign ministry official said in frustration: “If the current situation does not change then many officials will have to end their tenure without becoming an ambassador.”
Several Director General level officials say, “Our duty is not between 9am to 5pm, five days a week; sometimes, we have to work till late and often on weekends.”
If one cannot become a mission head after so much work then it’s really unfortunate, they lament.
“When someone has served as ambassador for a long time and does not want to come back, that person is not brought back, which is a wrong decision.”
They can be brought back and be allowed to lead wings responsible for different parts of the world. For instance, the South Asia wing has India, Pakistan and other neighbours while the South-East Asia wing has Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and others.
There are only two ambassador level officers serving at more than 20 wings at the foreign office and the foreign-service academy.