The office of the President of Pakistan is a symbolic office which represents the federation and, therefore, should be respected by all. Even in a parliamentary democratic system, it is always the Prime Minister who calls upon the president and never otherwise. This office deserves a lot of protocol for which the state bears a lot of expense.
It also places a lot of onus on the individual holding office of the President to maintain decorum and observe the rules of protocol. Pakistan’s former military dictator, who also assumed the role of the president often violated the decorum of his office by holding musical events at his official residence and was rumoured to be often in an intoxicated state, behaving in a manner unbecoming of the post that he held.
The proposed visit of the President of Pakistan to America for attending the memorial services in honour of Mr Richard Hoolbroke, the former US ambassador for Af-Pak Region is a breach of diplomatic norms and presidential protocol. At the most, the president should send a wreath through our ambassador, or some senior officer in our Foreign Office can represent him. During his tenure, the president should restrain himself from undertaking frequent private or unofficial foreign tours, which not only entail a lot of expense, but can and do lead to a breach of protocol.
ALI MALIK
Lahore
