I. The formative phase -- Partition and the establishment of a British diplomatic mission in Karachi -- A corner of a foreign field : the British Deputy High Commissions in Pakistan 1947-1958 -- Contrasting personalities : Laurence Graffety-Smith and Gilbert Laithwaite, British High Commissioners 1947-1954 -- Diplomats and their wives : Alec and Dodo Symon in Karachi, 1954-61 -- II. From High Commission to embassy -- Sir Morrice James : Kashmir and war -- The diplomatic mission in crisis 1970-1 -- The embassy years 1972-89 -- III> The conteporary High Commission -- Twenty-first century diplomatic challenges and tools -- Diplomacy in a decade of turmoil 1998-2008.

"This book is the first account of the British diplomatic mission in Pakistan from its foundation at the end of the Raj in 1947 to the 'War on Terror'. Drawing on original documents and interviews with participants, this book highlights key events and personalities as well as the influence and perspectives of individual diplomats previously not explored. The book demonstrates that the period witnessed immense changes in Britain's standing in the world and in the international history of South Asia to show that Britain maintained a diplomatic influence out of proportion to its economic and military strength. The author suggests that Britain's impact stemmed from colonial era ties of influence with bureaucrats, politicians and army heads which were sustained by the growth of a Pakistani Diaspora in Britain. Additionally, the book illustrates that America's relationship with Pakistan was transactional as opposed to Britain's, which was based on ties of sentiment as, from the mid-1950s, the United States was more able than Britain to give Pakistan the financial, military and diplomatic support it desired. A unique and timely analysis of the British diplomatic mission in Pakistan in the decades after independence, this book will be of interest to academics working in the fields of South Asian History and Politics, International Relations, British and American Diplomacy and Security Studies, Cold War Politics and History and Area Studies"-- Provided by publisher.