Pakistan appoints Haider Shah as permanent representative to UN
By The South Asia Times
UNITED NATIONS - Pakistan's newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, Syed Haider Shah, presented his credentials to Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, reaffirming Islamabad's commitment to multilateral diplomacy and the UN Charter.
During the meeting at UN headquarters in New York, Shah conveyed greetings from Pakistan's prime minister and deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
He reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the United Nations' work in peace and security, sustainable development and human rights, according to a statement from Pakistan's UN mission.
Guterres reciprocated the greetings and praised Pakistan's positive and constructive contributions to the work of the world body.
Shah previously served as Pakistan's ambassador to the Netherlands from March 2025. Before that, he was additional secretary for United Nations and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation affairs at Pakistan's Foreign Ministry from November 2022 to February 2025.
His earlier diplomatic postings include ambassador to Nepal from 2020 to 2022 and deputy head of mission at Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi from 2016 to 2020. He also served as acting high commissioner in India from April 2019 to October 2020.
Shah has extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy, international law, counter-terrorism and South Asian affairs.
From 2008 to 2013, he served as a legal officer at the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate in New York, which supports the Security Council's counter-terrorism efforts, including technical assistance and legal and human rights issues.
He previously served at Pakistan's UN mission from 2002 to 2006, covering the General Assembly's Sixth Committee, which deals with legal matters. During that period, he participated in negotiations on Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
Shah holds a master's degree in law from Harvard Law School and a law degree from the University of Peshawar. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in international law from Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
He co-authored a research paper on the legislative powers of the UN Security Council, published in 2005.
