In the Foreign Service of Pakistan, two stations – Sudan and North Korea – are known as very hard places, not because of any security problem but due to the lack of education and health facilities, rest and recreation, entertainment, attractions and distractions. While filling any vacancy in our Missions in Khartoum and Pyongyang, the administration surveys the list of Sindhi, Baloch, and Pashtun officers serving at Headquarters or in our Missions abroad who are due for posting. This practice is faithfully followed.

Since 1980, seven Sindhi-speaking Ambassadors have served in Khartoum. I was one of these lucky gentlemen. I know at least three Sindhi and Baloch officers assigned as ambassadors to Pyongyang, including Syed Hassan Habib. I enjoyed my stay in Khartoum, interacting extensively with our troops stationed as peacekeepers in Sudan. Unbelievably, Khartoum was a crime-free capital during the long rule of President Al-Bashir.

Late Ambassador S.M. Korejo had two consecutive postings in Khartoum and completed the manuscripts of his two landmark biographies of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and G. M. Syed, which were later published by Oxford University Press. Ambassador Zafarullah Shaikh is an admirer of Sudan. Khalid Ahmed Yousfani volunteered as Ambassador to Sudan. I was posted on the untenable ground that I had served at two A-stations.

Many friends believe that Pyongyang is harder than Khartoum because the local population is forbidden to interact with foreigners, especially foreign diplomats, who are the most watched, most pursued and most monitored community, and cannot........

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