1. Sartaj Aziz was a Pakistani economist and strategist, who had previously served as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan, member of the federal cabinet as the de facto Minister for Foreign Affairs, a Federal Senator as well as the National Security Advisor.
Sartaj Aziz went on to study economics at Punjab University and later studied public administration at Harvard Kennedy School.
Sartaj Aziz served as a civil servant from 1952 to 1971 within Pakistan's federal government, serving as the joint secretary in the planning commission between 1967 and 1971.
In 1971, Sartaj Aziz joined the Food and Agriculture Organization and served as its Director of Commodities, later moving to the International Fund for Agricultural Development where he served as the Assistant President, Policy and Planning between December 1977 and April 1984.
Sartaj Aziz returned to Pakistan in 1984 and served as a junior minister for Agriculture and Food Security until 1988 under the conservative Junejo administration.
Sartaj Aziz was elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1988 and re-elected in 1993 from the center-right PML-N, and served in both Sharif administrations first as the Minister of Finance from August 1990 to June 1993 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 1998 until 1999 coup d'etat.
Sartaj Aziz is noted as the only cabinet member who opposed the decision of conducting nuclear tests in response to India, citing 'economic reasons'.
Sartaj Aziz authored Between Dreams and Realities, which was published in 2009.
Sartaj Aziz remained with the university until 2013, when he joined the Nawaz Sharif's third administration as an advisor in-charge of country's foreign policy; he served as the National Security Advisor between 2013 and 2015.
Sartaj Aziz was born in 1929 in a Sayyid Kakakhel family in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sartaj Aziz was educated at Islamia College of Lahore and then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics from the Punjab University in 1949.
Sartaj Aziz joined the civil service in 1950 and later traveled to the United States and earned a master's degree in development economics from Harvard University in 1963.
Sartaj Aziz later worked in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization from 1971 to 1975, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development from 1978 to 1984.
Sartaj Aziz joined the economic bureau of the Planning Commission in 1964, sitting in a bench where he attended the meeting with the Chairman of the Planning Commission, Economic minister Muhammad Shoaib, Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the President Ayub Khan, to discuss the economic assessment of the Operation Gibraltar against India.
Sartaj Aziz vetoed the Gibraltar against India, fearing the economic turmoil that would jolt the country's economy, but was rebuffed by his senior bureaucrats.
Sartaj Aziz was Chief, International Economic Section, in the Planning Division of the Government of Pakistan, during the 1971 conflicts with India.
Sartaj Aziz did not join the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but was hostile towards the issue of nationalisation.
Sartaj Aziz criticised Bhutto for intensifying the government control of the privatised mega-corporations, citing that "Bhutto's nationalization failed to make up for the "mismatch" between economic reality and policy formulation".
In 1984, Sartaj Aziz joined the Military Government of President and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq as Minister of State for Food, Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Sartaj Aziz was elected to the Senate of Pakistan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1985 elections and again in 1993 parliamentary elections.
Sartaj Aziz adopted the proposed economic theory of matching economic requirements with national strategy.
Sartaj Aziz was tasked with intensifying country's economic system more dependent on investment, privatisation and the economical integrals penetrating through the matters of national security.
Sartaj Aziz was extremely upset and frustrated after learning the Indian nuclear testing that took place in Pokhran Test Range of Indian Army in May 1998, through the media.
Sartaj Aziz travelled to India to hold talks with his counterpart, the Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh, but the talks were regarded as a failure and unsuccessful in stemming the conflict.
Sartaj Aziz claimed India had "overreacted", while India demanded that Pakistan stop the incursion into Indian-administered Kashmir.
Sartaj Aziz represented Pakistan at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Burkina Faso, held during the Kargil conflict.
Sartaj Aziz's term ended abruptly after the Nawaz Sharif government was overthrown in a military coup by Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf.
Sartaj Aziz associated with Pakistan's foreign policy after his removal and tacitly backed Pakistan's decision to conduct nuclear tests.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the appointment of Sartaj Aziz to be elevated as National Security Adviser on 15 May 2013.
Sartaj Aziz drafted and had it approved the new national security strategy, and announced a new policy framework.
Sartaj Aziz quoted: This impression is baseless and misleading that there has been a policy shift regarding Syria.
On nuclear weapons policy, Sartaj Aziz defended Pakistan's rationale of nuclear deterrence.
In October 2015, Sartaj Aziz relinquish his post as National Security Advisor to Naseer Khan Janjua which was viewed as to provide coordination between civilian Foreign ministry and the military on foreign policy issues, which were being ignored due to his hectic engagement as per demand of the dual offices, quoted by the officials in Islamabad.
On 9 December 2015, Sartaj Aziz hosted the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad and met with Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj; Sartaj Aziz accompanied Sushma Swaraj to meet with Prime Minister Sharif.
About the foreign intervention in Syrian civil war, Sartaj Aziz explained Pakistan's policy on Syria in Senate in December 2015 that Pakistan is "against any attempt to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad".
Sartaj Aziz was among four political appointees of the previous PML-N government.
Sartaj Aziz continued to work in this capacity until 31 May 2018.
Sartaj Aziz's leading peace activism efforts led India to declare Pakistan as Most favoured nation in 1996.
Sartaj Aziz authored Between dreams and realities: Some Milestones in Pakistan's history, which was published in 2009 by Oxford University Press.
Sartaj Aziz was forced out by his peers during the wave of 1999 military coup d'etat which started and ended the massive arrests of his colleagues and government ministers of Nawaz Sharif.
In 2001, Sartaj Aziz joined the Department of Social Sciences of the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore and served there as a professor of economics.
In 2009, Sartaj Aziz was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Beaconhouse National University.
Sartaj Aziz died on 2 January 2024 in Islamabad, Pakistan, at the age of 94.