THOSE of us who live abroad face the dilemma of being at the mercy of our Foreign Service officials. These officials live a comfortable life, while we scramble to find out what are the rules they are governed with.

They enjoy both Pakistani and US holidays. But this is unusual: Nov 27 was a closed US holiday, so our New York consulate was also closed. But Nov 28 was not a US holiday, but the Pakistan consulate was closed and no one would answer the phones.

One can get grey hair trying to reach anyone on the phone at the Pakistan consulate in New York. If one gets through to the operator, and when one is connected to the extension, no one answers and if it goes to voice mail, one cannot leave a voice message as their mail boxes are full.

I would request some Dawn readers to please try to call the Pakistan consulate on 1-212-879-5800 and see what one has to go through. If you get through, please find out why they were closed on Nov 28 and what holidays they are permitted to observe? Thank you.

Sherbanu Khan

United States

Published in Dawn December 3rd , 2014