Former ambassador, and a renowned columnist, analyst, international relations expert and political commentator, Shamshad Ahmad is a veteran Pakistani diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan from 1997 to 2000. He also has the honor of serving Pakistan as the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2000 to 2002, besides holding diplomatic assignments in many important countries around the world.
Shamshad Ahmad did his Masters in Political Science and B.A. (Hons) from Government College Lahore before joining the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1965, where he held several important positions during his successful and illustrious career. He served as Ambassador to South Korea (1987–1990) and Iran (1990–1992), as Secretary-General of the influential multinational bloc Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) (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, Shamshad Ahmad 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.
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 the India-Pakistan peace process, the nuclearization of first India and then Pakistan, the Kargil War and the October 12, 1999, military coup in Pakistan. Shamshad Ahmad was the one who announced the last nuclear test (Pakistan’s 6th one compared to India’s 5 nuclear tests) in a defiant, nationally televised speech on May 30, 1998.
Later, he played a key role in promoting mutual “restraint and responsibility” between India and Pakistan, and on the occasion of the Lahore Summit, he 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.
During his tenure as Ambassador to the United Nations, he co-chaired the 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).
Books by Shamshad Ahmad
Dreams Unfulfilled
Pakistan and World Affairs
