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In statement, spokesperson claims ‘deliberate disinformation’ is irresponsible and malafide
Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Sunday sought to dismiss speculation that employees of its foreign missions had not been paid their salaries on time for several months, stressing such reports were “baseless” and had no basis in reality.
“In response to media queries, the spokesperson termed as entirely baseless, irresponsible and malafide, the social media posts and related news reports in sections of the media alluding to financial difficulties faced by some Pakistan Missions abroad,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This deliberate disinformation attempt is outrightly rejected,” it said.
“All Pakistan Missions continue to be provided the requisite resources for effective functioning in accordance with relevant financial and budgetary rules and regulations,” it added.
In recent weeks, there have been three reports that have suggested that Pakistani missions abroad are not paying their staff in a timely manner. On Saturday, daily The News reported that the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington had not paid some of its local staff for at least four months before the matter was resolved through the personal intervention of the Pakistani ambassador.
A day earlier, the official Twitter account of the Pakistan Embassy in Serbia posted a tweet claiming that its staff had not been paid in three months, and their children were at risk of being expelled from their schools due to the government withholding reimbursements. The Foreign Office maintains that the account had been hacked and there were no financial irregularities at the mission.
Last month, a document went viral on social media suggesting that the Pakistan had not paid the school fees of children of staff at its mission in Dhaka and requesting that funds be disbursed to avoid late fee surcharges and potential embarrassment for the country. The Foreign Office has rubbished that document as being “fake.”