Pakistan Official Makes Mark on Dedham, Takes Lessons in Local Government

For two weeks, Aziz Ahmad Jamali, a beauracrat from Pakistan, visited with most department heads at , attended countless meetings and took away lessons he can apply to his home country.

Dedham was paired with Jamali through a U.S. State Department program that brought 15 Pakistani officials to the U.S. to learn how local government operates. 

Jamali said he was impressed by the level of economic development, the protection of the environment and the condition of the buildings in Dedham.

For the next two weeks, Jamali will visit Westwood, and then meet with federal officials in Washington, D.C.

Asked if the trip, which Sen. John Kerry helped coordinate, was a way to mend the rocky relationship between the two countries, Jamali responded, "The way it has been planned, I think it is too late. It was required much earlier," he said. "It's due to the war on terror hysteria that makes our people against us. It puts us in a very challenging and unfortunate situation we weren't prepared for."

Many Pakistanis are enraged by several U.S. drone attacks that have killed scores of civilians.