ISLAMABAD: Tariq Fatemi, who served as a special assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs, left the Foreign Office on Tuesday, rejecting the findings of the probe committee on a story published in Dawn that led to his ouster.

He was of the view that contributions of the `country`s diplomat s` to national security were not being fully acknowledged.

`I reject recent allegations, insinuations, and innuendos. Such suggestions are particularly hurtful for someone, who has served Pakistan for nearly five decades with honour and integrity,` Mr Fatemi said in a parting note for officers of the Foreign Service.

PM Sharif withdrew Mr Fatemi`s portfolio of foreign affairs on the basis of the findings of the committee that had been established by the government to investigate the Dawn story.

Mr Fatemi`s letter was his first known reaction to his removal from the Foreign Office. Mediareports had prior to the release of the recommendations of the committee last Saturday said that Mr Fatemi had been asked by the government to quit, but he refused to do so.

Months before Mr Fatemi was removed from FO, the government had stopped inviting him to national security meetings held this year although he earlier used to attend similar sessions.

The two-page letter dated May 2, 2017 on Mr Fatemi`s official FO letterhead reminded that he had remained privy to some of the most highly classified information on national security. He meant to say that since he could keep all those secrets, he couldn`t have disclosed the proceedings of a national security meeting to media.

`I have had the honour of working directly under distinguished diplomats .. . all of whom reposed their highest trust in my abilities and particularly so, in my lifelong commitment to discretion,` he maintained, adding `tale ing due care and caution becomes a second nature in our professionalcareers`.

Besides, the personal clarification, Mr Fatemi in a general sense complained that `the successes that you (country`s diplomats) achieve in safeguarding and advancing . .

national interest and in flying the Pakistan flag high, despite the wide array of challenges confronting the country, may sometimes not be fully appreciated and understood at home` Referring to his fouryear stay at the FO as a special assistant to the prime minister, he said Pakistan`s case was `convincingly presented to our interlocutors the world over`, highlighted the advances made by the country in fight against terrorism, on the economic front and expanding the network of friends.

`These have enabled us to maintain Pakistan`s standing as a credible and influential voice in the comity of nations,` he underscored.

He was later in the evening given a farewell reception by the officers of the Foreign Service, where according to media accounts he made an emotional speech.