Syed Tariq Fatemi (; ; born 9 July 1944) is a Pakistani

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

who most recently served as Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs to the

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

till the government completed its term. He previously served as

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

and to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Biography

Born in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(present-day Bangladesh), Fatemi went on to serve as a career

foreign service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

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 denotes ...

throughout his career. In addition, he also provided his foreign policy expertise to represent Pakistan's case at the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

(IAEA). Aside from foreign service, he has briefly taught courses on

International relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

at the

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

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 s ...

at the National Defence University and the

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), founded as the University of Islamabad, is a public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedicated to postgraduate study, but later expande ...

. A key member of the

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

, 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. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

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

Russian studies Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing politics of Russia, politics, history of Russia, history, Culture of Russia, culture, economy of Russia, economics, and languages of Russia, languages of Russia and its neighborhood, often gr ...

and is fluent in

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

. 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 file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

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 (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

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 Academic staff of the National Defence University, Pakistan Academic staff of Quaid-i-Azam University 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