ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif withdrew the portfolio of foreign affairs from former ambassador Syed Tariq Fatemi a day after he was given the role in the new government.
A notification issued by the Cabinet Division said that Fatemi will continue to serve as a special assistant to PM while no other portfolio has been announced for him.
“In partial modification of this Division’s earlier notification of even number dated April 20, 2022, the prime minister, in terms of rule 4(6) of the Rules of Business, 1973, read with serial number 1A of Schedule V-A of the said Rules, has been please to appoint Syed Tariq Fatemi as ‘Special Assistant to the Prime Minister’ and grant him the status of minister of state,” read the notification.
Earlier, repots said that Fatemi’s presence in a meeting chaired by PM Shehbaz Sharif raised eyebrows over his role in the new setup.
Several PML-N leaders raised reservations over the presence of a 77-year-old as he was named in a number of controversies including Dawn Leaks which started a conflict between the civilian government and the military and sparked a storm in national politics.
Fatemi, a Pakistani diplomat, policy strategist, and professor belongs to a well-known Sufi family, with his father, the late Professor Syed Alay Mohammad Abdur Rauf Fatemi, a well-known educationist and scholar of repute in former East Pakistan.
He joined the foreign service in October 1969 and was later promoted to the highest rank in the civil service. His career as a diplomat spans 35 years and high-profile appointments around the world.
He held various diplomatic assignments in Pakistan Missions abroad, including Moscow (twice), New York, Washington (twice) and Beijing.
Following his retirement, he joined Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and assisted the party on various foreign policy matters. He served in the same position under deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif. In 2017, then PM Nawaz Sharif ordered to remove Fatemi from his post for his alleged role in the scandal that garnered international attention.
He also made headlines when some media reports claimed that the daughter of Fatemi was married to an American Muslim who entered Islam from Judaism before marriage.
