Iqbal Akhund is a pioneer diplomat of Pakistan whose career has spanned four decades. He made his mark at the UN where he served as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative and later as Assistant Secretary-General. In 1976, when he was simultaneously President of the Security Council, Chairman of the Economic and Social Council, and of the developing countries’ grouping, the Group of 77, he was voted among the twelve top international diplomats of the year. In 1979, as Assistant Secretary-General he served as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Lebanon till 1984, and then at the UN headquarters in New York as Head of the Centre Against Apartheid till 1987. On the return of democracy in Pakistan in 1988, Iqbal Akhund returned to Pakistan’s service and was National Security and Foreign Affairs Adviser in Benazir Bhutto’s first government.