THIS is apropos news item (Oct 10) regarding diplomatic faux pas on the appointment of high commissioner to Sri Lanka. There should be a proper procedure for appointment of defence forces officers into foreign/ civil services.

At present it is only left to the whims and personal liking of senior officers to nominate their subordinate officers for foreign/civil services.

Similarly, nominations for ambassadorial appointments are not done on merit but on personal likes. It is desirable that a proper selection procedure should be evolved by the government and nominations against quota for defence forces officers should be done on merit.

Air Cdre (retd) Khayyam Durrani

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019