Syed Tariq Fatemi ( ur, ; born 9 July 1944), is a Pakistani diplomat who is currently serving as the Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: , ; born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who is currently serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since 11 April 2022. He is the current president of ...

. He previously served as

Pakistan Ambassador to the United States The Pakistan Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the Pakistan Embassy, Washington, D.C. and Pakistan's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Stat ...

and to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

Biography

Born in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, Fatemi went on to serve as a career

foreign service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

officer and has held

diplomatic missions A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

throughout his career. In addition, he also provided his foreign policy expertise to represent Pakistan's case at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Aside from foreign service, he has briefly taught courses on

International relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

at the

Foreign Service Academy The Foreign Service Academy ( ur, ) in Islamabad, Pakistan is the training arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Pakistan), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan. Since its establishment in September 1981, the academy has organized 49 cours ...

and as well as courses on

Security studies __NOTOC__ Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international ...

at the National Defence University and the

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

. A key member of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), he is the author of the book, "''The Future of Pakistan''", and has repeatedly appeared in

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and ...

to comment on foreign affairs of the country. He is an expert on

Russian studies Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing politics, history, culture, economics, and languages of Russia and its neighborhood, often grouped under Soviet and Communist studies. Russian studies should not be confused with the study of ...

and is fluent in Russian language. Controversy surrounded him during Nawaz Sharif's tenure.

Career

His career as a Pakistani diplomat is enriched with assignments in Pakistan Missions abroad, including New York, Moscow (twice), Beijing and Washington (twice). He served as Additional Foreign Secretary (Americas and Europe Divisions) and worked in the Prime Minister’s Office, in charge of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Defense Production. From 1982 to 1986, he served as the delegate to the UN General Assembly Sessions and attended several Non-Aligned and OIC Conferences, while being the member of the UN-sponsored Geneva negotiations on Afghanistan. In 1999, Fatemi was promoted to the rank of a Federal Secretary—the highest rank in the country’s civil service. He also served as the High Commissioner (Ambassador) of Pakistan to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

and later served as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the US, Jordan, Belgium, Luxembourg and then to European Union (Brussels) and retired in 2004. Carnegie Endowment.org website After his retirement, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and assisted the party on various foreign policy matters. In April 2017, the Prime Minister's Office issued directives to remove Fatemi from his post as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, for his alleged role in Dawn Leaks. Earlier, an inquiry committee had held Fatemi responsible for the Dawn Leaks. The allegation was rejected by Fatemi in a farewell letter. On 20 April 2022,

Shehbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: , ; born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who is currently serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since 11 April 2022. He is the current president of ...

appointed Syed Tariq Fatemi as his special assistant on foreign affairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatemi, Tariq 1944 births Bengali educators People from Dhaka Pakistani people of Bengali descent University of the Punjab alumni University of Dhaka alumni Moscow State University alumni Conservatism in Pakistan National Defence University, Pakistan faculty Quaid-i-Azam University faculty Pakistani political scientists Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan Ambassadors of Pakistan to the United States Russian studies scholars Pakistan Muslim League (N) politicians Ambassadors of Pakistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Living people Russian–Urdu translators