CSS Forums - Life in FSP

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I am a lowly officer of Foreign Service of Pakistan. When I am writing this message I am attending a lecture in a conference room regarding 16th International Junior Diplomats Course 2010 Ankara. This is my first ever tour abroad. This is a 40 days long course which include Lectures and Excursion. We are junior diplomats from 55 nations in one class room, which is actually a conference room of a five star Hotel. We also live here. We visited Capadokia, Izmir, Istanbul, and of course the legendary Troy. IF YOU ASK ME, "LIFE IS ALL WHAT WE CALL FOREIGN SERVICE OF PAKISTAN". Stay in Five star Hotels (Hilton,Plaza,Kolin etc), Best Cuisine (Free of course), A lot of Dollars in your pocket provided by Turkish Foreign Ministry. Beach Parties and Night Clubs (Official By Ministry of Course). Everybody have to give a presentation on his country....and Mark my words Pakistan stands prominent amongst all....Diplomats just want to listen to you Shake hand with you....Because we are in the limelight of world power politics....We have a lot to brag about...Diplomats here are crazy about football we had a couple of matches in club...and when you tell them that Pakistan manufactures 85% of total world football requirements and is largest outsource of Adidas & Nike. Every body asked for the copy of presentation. or I tell them we have world largest Ther Coal Reserves 875 trillion cubic feet which in energy terms are twice the size of total oil reserves of Saudi Arab & Iran which are worlds largest and second largest (750 billion barrels) or World's largest Salt mines and or World largest Earthen Reservoir Terbela Dam or Uranium forms 12% of your total terrain. World will be mum. To add a little spice We have 3rd largest army in world after China & India which is One million...You can well imagine the atmosphere.......Nobody can judge Service groups during CSS preparations....YOu will know when when you have at least two years in service.....

Right now i am nothing but a aspirant of CSS and offcourse like all others wellwisher of my country.

we do respect your words on the quality of life in FSP .And we all who pay heavy indirect taxes with no beneficial return, expects allot from you people.

The World got mum when they hear how much naturally blessed we are.
But they would surely got stunned if they ever come across the other side of the picture.

For example: lets take the 3 most important aspects of a country.

Defense:

we have the third largest army and we haven't won any war with India.
we lost kargil , 1971, 1965 etc
even today if you ask any defense analyst or an Army General about the capacity of fighting with India(recognized as no1 enemy) there reply would by not more than 3 days. in this scenario our only hope would be Atomic bomb or UNO.

ECONOMY:

we are world largest football producer, the company Nike or any other doesn't belong to Pakistan.
what is the per capita income of a Pakistani? the minimum wages required for utilities and other essentials is =15000rs
* Govt of Pakistan has rose the minimum wages to 7000rs
* And where do we stand in the world ranking regarging economy.

energy:

* Have we produced a single MW of electricity from that reserves.

POLITICS:

You people are in the limelight of world politics can you plz tell me is Pakistan a Democratic state?
what is our ideology?
Is Pakistan a presidential or parliamentary form of state?

$ Being a Diplomat its your duty to portray a pleasant (All is well) picture, but you should well aware of miseries of people of Pakistan. i am sure you are well aware and trying your best.

i doesn't mean to discourage you.
i would like to thank you for posting such important details. as we people have no other source.

Regards
Faisal

@Zain. Glad to represent Pakistan positively. Keep it up.

I wana join FSP too, but there is one problem in FSP-Family disturbance.

Is there any solution of this issue ?

Regards

@Faisal:
[B][U]DEFENSE:[/U][/B]
*Relying on Cold war alliances for defense was our necessity although they proved contrary…Hopefully you will not see an all out war in future due to the unconventional delicate balance of power that we have engineered in late 90s …
[B][U]ECONOMY: [/U][/B]
*Pakistan is 27th world largest economy out of almost 200. 42nd on trade liberalization index India is 68th…
*World manufacturing pattern has shifted after trade integration. You can't input raw material on one side of production line and get Porsche or BMW from other…there is a dispersal of manufacturing activity benefiting small medium enterprises across the world. So you don't need brands….
*Per Capita GDP is $2600 which is almost Rs19000/month average…A better tax to GDP ratio can guarantee uniform income distribution.
*Fixation of minimum wage rate causes inflation and unemployment because of rise in cost of production. Wage rate should be left on demand & supply and other market forces.
[B][U]ENERGY[/U][/B]
* Two power plants of 1200 MW each has been approved on 7th march 2010. Currently we are producing almost 1300 MW total….so these will triple the production.
[B][U]POLITICS[/U][/B]
* Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy under Article 50 of constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973. (read with 18th amendment)
>>>>>>>
A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity…An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty…(Winston Churchill)

@Ariz…

Thank you brother…..There are 6 million Pakistanis working abroad…from a software engineer to a laborer. They have their families who don’t get a chance in years to meet them…They have no diplomatic passports, free air tickets, medical facilities, furnished accommodations, and free schooling for their kids……….

[B] @ Zain[/B]

[B] Great ! very much convinced

Magr sunha he FSP means DIVIDED AND SCATTERED

PLZ COMMENT ON IT.:con[/B]

Regards

Zahid Iqbal

thank you so much for the info

i have one question..

are you the only junior diplomat from Pakistan or there are other?
if you are only one,why seniors chose you?
i mean is there any criteria of choosing a candidate for such courses or they select randomly?

Thank you

Hello sir ji... Omer here from neitherland...kesse hain... nice to hear aap wahan turkey mae itna zayada enjoy kar rahe hain... although we are also enjoying but the hague seems to be a boring sorta city atleast for me.... khair jab aap foreign service kae barae mae keh he rahe hain to lemme also share my views

well then foriegn service of Pakistan is a noble and prestigious service because of its unique nature of work i.e, u represent ur country abroad.... wesse there are problems associated with FSP as well... To be realistic when so ever u are in isb you are in trouble... there is not well accomodation rather to be real there is no accomodation avaiable. All u have to do it to manage in a single room with a room mate during training and afterward as well since officers also reside there with nominal 12000 around which u get. If ur home is in pindi or isb , u will be better off else its tough..and if u have family to support it gets worst in real scenario, as we have examples in the past also.... But if u are a bit well off and can manage to live alone or in company of ur collegues it can be good. Hostel is located on margalla road. I don't know much about hostel as i live in my home in rawalpindi...

When you are abroad again u have facilities but at the same time constraints as well. you do get less salary as compared to expenditures over there. As here also we met senior diplomats saying the same story... Its all about how you get the things and manage yourself. Those who have to support their parents or from far off areas have to think much before coming....

[QUOTE=aariz;185633]@Zain. Glad to represent Pakistan positively. Keep it up.

I wana join FSP too, but there is one problem in FSP-Family disturbance.

Is there any solution of this issue ?

Regards[/QUOTE]

No solution dear... it is a fact and will remain as it is....

[QUOTE=zahi;185693][B] @ Zain[/B]

[B] Great ! very much convinced

Magr sunha he FSP means DIVIDED AND SCATTERED

PLZ COMMENT ON IT.:con[/B]

Regards

Zahid Iqbal[/QUOTE]

hmm it depends on the nature of ur work... u have to be scattered as u have complete world... DMG and police are united since they have only Pakistan.. Difference is very clear...

[QUOTE=css2011;185768]thank you so much for the info

i have one question..

are you the only junior diplomat from Pakistan or there are other?
if you are only one,why seniors chose you?
i mean is there any criteria of choosing a candidate for such courses or they select randomly?

Thank you[/QUOTE]

16 went to Neitherlands in the clingendael institute of diplomatic relations for 6 week of which i am also one

and zain went to turkey...

These are as per the MOU signed by these governments.... criteria is seniority

is FSP suitable for girls??

[QUOTE=Sweet Dreamer;185838]is FSP suitable for girls??[/QUOTE]

Depends...You got to have priorities very clear in life. Problems are mainly the same... The day you land in CSA, you are in a different enviroment.... Rest will depend on how you manage without your family. It gets a bit more tough when you are in the foreign service hostel islamabad, because it is a lonely place and without family girls feel it difficult to live on. But if u are strong enough , you can always do it as girls from DMG and Police also live alone. As far as career is concerned nothing much difference from boys. Girls do tend to get good postings abroad, but as i said before you have to be clear as to what you want. We have example of girls not going on foreign courses afterward before of personal reasons and family restrictions. So if that be the case then coming over to the service from very start is wrong.

But overall its a good service career wise and opportunity wise provided u adjust to situation and to realise the fact that after marriage your husband has to be with you rather then you be with the husband... :)

[QUOTE=scorpsshadow;185871] Girls do tend to get good postings abroad, but as i said before you have to be clear as to what you want. We have example of girls not going on foreign courses afterward before of personal reasons and family restrictions. So if that be the case then coming over to the service from very start is wrong.[/QUOTE]

true,that's the main reason why girls don't want to come in this field.There are some social restriction which we have to face....and Husbands don't easily agree to live with their wives on her terms but other way around....

i have a question

Are you allowed to take your family with you on different trips?
if yes
then can parents and siblings of an officer go with her/him?
who pay their expanses?