Accomplished term for Sri Lankan diplomat

“I don’t think she wants to leave,” the Sri Lankan high commissioner jokingly said when he was recently asked about the departure date of his deputy.

Yet the time has come for Wijayanthi Edirisinghe and her family to fly back to Colombo on Wednesday. She remained the acting high commissioner for many months after the former high commissioner left and the new was appointed.

At a farewell party, Edirisinghe admitted that she had enjoyed her more than three years in Pakistan.

“It was a good posting for me, my husband and our young children,” she said.

During her posting in Pakistan, Edirisinghe’s husband managed to complete a master’s degree from Numl, Islamabad.

“Now I feel it is my turn to take time off to upgrade my academic qualifications,” said Ms Edirisinghe. “I want to focus on peace studies,” she added.

“The Edirisinghes have been a popular couple in the diplomatic community in Islamabad,” said a diplomat colleague at one of the last receptions the Sri Lankans could attend before their term in Pakistan was over.

Summer course in diplomacy

“This is the first time that we have held a major summer course for youth leaders on various issues related to diplomacy and international relations,” said Asif Noor and Farhat Asif of the Institute of Peace and Diplomacy (IPD), Islamabad.

The three-day course was organised in collaboration between IPD and Comsats University’s Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).

The course had 28 participants and half that number of speakers, most of them foreign and Pakistani ambassadors, diplomats and academics.

“We were quite honoured that United Nations Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne took time out to address the participants and hand out their certificates,” said researcher Raheel Zahid of the CPS.

The next course will be held in spring during the term break, said Farhat Asif.

“I believe such courses are very important, especially for youth leaders who have already completed their degrees in fields other than international relations,” she said.

“Diplomacy is not only what the official diplomats do. Many others play important roles, including university teachers who cooperate with colleagues abroad, youth leaders who travel to attend events in other countries, and researchers and journalists who write about various international issues,” said Farhat Asif.

“I was lucky to be able to take part in planning and implementation of the first International Young Diplomat School,” said Laeeq Hassan Jaswal, an assistant professor and manager of the Strategic Partnership Programme at Comsats.

“The course was short. We could just introduce important issues. In future, we will be able to focus on specific issues and go more in depth,” said Jaswal at the dinner reception for participants and speakers.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016