From Mahnoor Makhdoom
BEIJING: Following special instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan to maintain an unprecedented liaison with Pakistani community, specially the stranded students in Hubei, in wake of the crisis emerging out of the Novel Coronavirus spread, Pakistan Embassy in Beijing and its other Missions across China have emerged as shinning symbols of unique and extraordinary public diplomacy under the leadership of newly appointed Ambassador.
According to the news gathered by The Daily Mail, Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi formed special teams out of Embassy staff for the purpose and gave them unique methodologies to reach out to members of Pakistani community across China with special emphasis on reaching out to Pakistani students at various local universities and colleges and to visiting Pakistani traders, who got stranded due to the sudden restrictions, brought in by the Chinese authorities in bid to minimize the virus spread and which later turned out to be the best possible step for preventing the epidemic. Taking clues from the Ambassador and following the modules, orchestrated by Ambassador Hashmi , these teams started delivering smartly and effectively and soon emerged a Special Task Force and Smart Teams as they started earning a huge commendation and appreciation, not only by Pakistani community and stranded students but also by Beijing-based foreign diplomats and local and international media.
The Daily Mail has learnt that these Smart Teams of Pakistani embassy not only reached out to almost every Pakistani student across China, through one mean or the other but also rescued Pakistani businessmen, traders and researchers who got stranded at different Chinese airports along with their families and got maximum relief for them through extensive coordination with Chinese authorities. The teams also established a comprehensive liaison network and a help desk. It is learnt that a group of 10 to 12, politically motivated Pakistani students, who were titled as ‘Dirty Dozen’ by some fellow students, started using highly derogatory language while interacting with female and male liaison persons on the phone desks, formed to help and assist them 24/7. Not only this but they also resorted to give life threats to
embassy officials. However on the instructions of the Ambassador, no charges were pressed against them and an unprecedented patience and constraint was shown by everyone concerned at desk in particular and at the Embassy in general.
The Daily Mail has learnt that Ambassador Hashmi and her aides held special rounds of talks and exercised intensive diplomatic maneuvers to gain a special permission from Chinese authorities to send a special team of Embassy officials to Wuhan to assist stranded students as China had imposed very strict travel restrictions after epidemic spread. However, the permission was having a very strong condition attached to it. The condition was that the team would be allowed to fly to Wuhan but would not to be allowed to exit Wuhan until the situation is reported to be safe by authorities, without any time limit. Sources at the Pakistan Embassy in Beijing told The Daily Mail that the Ambassador was a bit upset with this development as she was wondering that who would show willingness to embark on this assignment of unspecified time under such extremely life risking circumstances.
However, according to these sources, the Ambassador was extremely surprised to see that almost every embassy official came forward, insisting to be sent to Wuhan on voluntary basis, making the team selection very difficult. After certain deliberations, a two member team, comprising Third Secretary Mr. Junaid and Education Attaché Mr. Suleman was finalized for the mission and the team was titled as Solidarity Team. The Solidarity Team of Pakistan Embassy reached Wuhan immediately after the permission was officially granted and started interacting with stranded students across Hubei province and visited every education facility where Pakistani students were reported to be. This Solidarity Team started coordinating with local authorities and academic staff of the relevant Universities to provide every possible relief to the stranded Pakistani students.
The Daily Mail has learnt that the Pakistan Embassy’s Solidarity Team is since then, going extensively vibrant in Wuhan and just on Tuesday, it delivered food and baby provisions to a student couple at a Hospital in Wuhan, who were blessed with a baby girl. The Solidarity Team also delivered food and baby provisions to three more expectant couples and is helping these four couples more than mid-wives.
It is worth mentioning here that since the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus, all offices and organizations and businesses as well as foreign Diplomatic Missions are shut in Beijing while Pakistan Embassy has been the only organization that remained open and operational throughout. Pakistan Embassy remained officially open and operational even during the holidays on the eve of Chinese New year and that too working 24/7 to look after and facilitate over 28000 Pakistani students across China with around 1200 in Hubei province, while it has emerged as the only foreign Mission to have its team operational in Wuhan amidst this crisis. “It has not only encouraged the students but also contributed a lot to the cause of Pakistan-China friendship and is by every means, creating a new history and redefining the diplomacy and services”, said Professor Tang, a senior academician from Peking University and a specialist on diplomatic affairs and Pakistan-China relations, when contacted by The Daily Mail .
