ISLAMABAD:The federal government has withdrawn a notification to appoint Tariq Fatemi as Special Assistant to the PM (SAPM) on Foreign Affairs, only a day after it was issued.

Fatemi, 77, is a former diplomat who was embroiled in the so-called Dawn Leaks episode in the previous PML-N government and was removed as SAPM on foreign affairs in 2017. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday appointed him again to the same position, raising many eyebrows.

The Cabinet Division has now withdrawn the appointment, issuing a modified notification that will allow Fatemi to serve as SAPM without any portfolio. Fatemi was born in Dhaka three years before Pakistan came into being. He joined the foreign service of Pakistan and held several diplomatic missions as a career diplomat and represented Pakistan at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He later joined the PML-N after retirement.

In 2016, Dawn newspaper published a controversial inside account of a meeting between civilian and military leadership. Fatemi was one of the people to be held responsible for leaking the information to journalist Cyril Almeida by an inquiry board. His major recent appearance came on April 12 when he attended a meeting under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the country’s economic situation.