the government has given no reason for removing the portfolio of Fatemi but the fact that he remains close to the prime minister makes it obvious that he will be guiding Shehbaz on foreign policy
ISLAMABAD: Twenty-four hours after Tariq Fatemi, a retired diplomat, was notified as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Thursday saw his portfolio being taken back with the Cabinet Division notifying him as an SAPM without any portfolio, but added status of a Minister of State.
Eyebrows were raised when Fatemi, a close aide of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was on Wednesday notified as the SAPM on Foreign Affairs. The Shehbaz Sharif government had already notified PPP’s Hina Rabbani Khar as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who had joined the Foreign Office and assumed the charge. It is expected that Chairperson PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on his return from London would take over as Minister of Foreign Affairs, thus, giving the Foreign Office in control of the PPP.
Publicly at least, the government has given no reason for removing the portfolio of Fatemi but the fact that he remains close to the prime minister makes it obvious that he will be guiding Shehbaz on foreign policy. With a Minister of State already at the Foreign Office, it is unlikely that Fatemi would move to the Foreign Office. However, there is no doubt that as long as he is there, he will try to control matters of foreign policy.
When the cabinet was announced, there was no mention of Tariq Fatemi or some others who had served with the senior Sharif, but it appears lobbies close to Nawaz Sharif managed to bring him into the Prime Minister’s Office. Fatemi has previously also been an SAPM at the Foreign Office when Sartaj Aziz was the Minister for Foreign Affairs during the PMLN government. It was no secret that there was great tension between Aziz and Fatemi, in a typical scenario of too many cooks spoiling the broth.
Critics wondered how two political parties could run the affairs of the Foreign Office at the same time. Earlier, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took office, Tariq Fatemi was seen assisting Sharif whenever a foreign dignitary called upon him. This was hint enough that he would soon be given an official position. He was last seen with the prime minister when US Congresswoman, Ilhan Umar, called on him on Wednesday.
A fresh notification from the Cabinet Division on Thursday said, “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 pleased to appoint Syed Tariq Fatemi as ‘Special Assistant to the Prime Minister’ and grant him the status of minister of state”.
In 2017 to appease the security establishment, Nawaz Sharif had removed Fatemi from office during the Dawnleaks fiasco, pointing to the fact that with a few others, Fatemi had leaked details of a meeting between the civil and military leadership.
Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner, Dr Christian Turner, called on the Minister of State, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar. She besides other issues also noted with concern the economic impact of the continuity of the Ukraine crisis and expressed the need for an early resolution of the matter through diplomacy and peaceful means. Later, Ms Khar received a phone call from the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayec Al Nahyan, who congratulated her on her new office.