ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday withdrew the foreign affairs portfolio from Syed Tariq Fatemi, a close aide of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, a day after appointing him as a special assistant.
A notification issued by the Cabinet Division stated Fatemi will continue to serve as a special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) without a portfolio and has been granted the additional status of a minister of state.
Fatemi had served in the same position during the previous PML-N government under Nawaz but was removed in 2017 for his alleged role in ‘Dawn leaks’ — a story published in a local daily that reported the details of a high-level civil-military meeting discussing the issue of banned outfits operating in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister’s Office had initially rejected the story, but the military had mounted pressure to demand a probe into the matter to determine those involved in disclosing the details of the meeting, which it said was related to the country’s national security.
