Shamshad Ahmad

Shamshad Ahmad (Urdu: شمشاد احمد‎) is a veteran Pakistani diplomat, international relations expert and a author who served as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan from 1997 to 2000 and as the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations between 2000 till 2002. He also served as Pakistan's ambassador to South Korea and Iran.

He currently writes a weekly column for English daily The News. Before that he was a regular contributor to The Nation. He also writes occasionally for Dawn and The Express Tribune. He is the author of books including Dreams Unfulfilled and Pakistan and World Affairs.

Education

Shamshad Ahmad did his Masters in Political Science and B.A (Hons) from Government College Lahore before joining Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1965.

Diplomatic career

His diplomatic career includes various posts at headquarters in Islamabad and in Pakistan missions abroad. He served as Ambassador to South Korea (1987–1990) and Iran (1990–1992), as Secretary-General, Economic Cooperation Organization (1992–1996), Pakistan's Foreign Secretary (1997–2000), and as Pakistan's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN (2000–2002).

As Secretary-General of ECO, a regional cooperation organization headquartered in Tehran, he steered its expansion in 1992 from a trilateral entity (Iran, Pakistan and Turkey) into a 10-member regional organization with the induction of seven new members, namely, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, giving it a new global dimension and fresh regional framework and common socio-economic development strategy.

Foreign secretary

As Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, he managed and executed his country's foreign policy during an extraordinary period of its history that saw the resumption of India-Pakistan peace process, overt nuclearization of South Asia, the Kargil War and the October 12, 1999 military coup. He signed the June 23, 1997 agreement in Islamabad with his Indian counterpart Salman Haider on resumption of India-Pakistan peace process which is today the basis of the ongoing "composite dialogue" between the two countries.

In the aftermath of India-Pakistan nuclear tests in May 1998, he played a key role in promoting mutual "restraint and responsibility" between India and Pakistan, and on the occasion of the Lahore Summit, signed a memorandum of understanding with his Indian counterpart on February 21, 1999, laying down a framework of mutual "nuclear risk reduction" and other confidence-building measures aimed at preventing the risk of nuclear conflict and unauthorized or accidental use of nuclear weapons.

Shamshad Ahmad also held eight rounds of talks with his US counterpart Strobe Talbott from May 1998 to February 1999 on issues of peace and security in South Asia, including nuclear and strategic stability stabilization measures.

Pakistan ambassador to UN

During his tenure as Ambassador to the United Nations, he co-chaired UN General Assembly's Working Group on Conflict Resolution and Sustainable Development in Africa, and also served as Senior Consultant to the UN on economic and social matters (2002–2003) with particular focus on sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

References

• Column archive at Foreign Affairs
• Works by or about Shamshad Ahmad in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• An insider's view, A.G. Noorani, Frontline, 4 May 2007