New York (TDI): Pakistan’s newly appointed Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, has presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
During the meeting last week, Ambassador Shah conveyed greetings and best wishes from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to multilateralism, the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and the organization’s work across its three key pillars: international peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.
Secretary-General Guterres reciprocated the goodwill and appreciated Pakistan’s positive, active and constructive contributions to the work of the United Nations.
Ambassador Shah is a senior officer of the Foreign Service of Pakistan with extensive experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, international law, counterterrorism and South Asian affairs.
Before his appointment to New York, he served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Netherlands from March 2025. Earlier, he was Additional Secretary for United Nations and Organization of Islamic Cooperation affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad from November 2022 to February 2025.
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He also served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Nepal from November 2020 to October 2022. From 2016 to 2020, Shah was Deputy Head of Mission at Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi, including serving as Acting High Commissioner from April 2019 to October 2020.
His earlier assignments at the Foreign Ministry included Director of the Foreign Minister’s Office from July 2014 to August 2015, Director for Afghanistan from July 2013 to April 2014, and Director for United Nations affairs from 2006 to 2008.
Shah also brings direct experience of the United Nations system, having served as a Legal Officer at the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) in New York from 2008 to 2013.
Established by the UN Security Council in 2004, CTED supports the Counter-Terrorism Committee, including by facilitating technical assistance to member states and addressing the legal and human rights dimensions of counterterrorism efforts.
From 2002 to 2006, he served at Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, where he covered the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee, which deals with legal matters.
During this assignment, he participated in negotiations on several Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. Over the course of his diplomatic career, Shah has represented Pakistan at numerous international conferences and sessions of the UN General Assembly, including from 2002 to 2008 and 2023 to 2024. He has also participated in negotiations on various international treaties and conventions.
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Ambassador Shah holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Harvard Law School, obtained in 1998, and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar, completed in 1993. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in International Law in 2000 from the Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University in The Hague.
His academic contributions include co-authoring a research paper titled The Legislative Powers of the United Nations Security Council, published in the book Towards World Constitutionalism by Martinus Nijhoff in 2005.
His appointment places an experienced diplomat with a strong background in international law, multilateral negotiations and counterterrorism at the head of Pakistan’s mission to the United Nations.
