Aide to the Governor of Balochistan

Captain Shafaat (middle) pictured next to the Governor of Balochistan Khan of Kalat (left) and Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (right)

Shah had served as ADC to the Governor of Balochistan, Ahmad of Kalat, from 1974 to 1976.^[15]

Aide to Musharraf

Major General Shah with President Musharraf at the annual military parade on the 65th anniversary of Resolution Day (23 March 2005)

Shah was appointed as Military Secretary to President Musharraf, replacing Nadeem Taj. He took charge on 25 December 2003, the same day when there was a suicide attack on Musharraf in Rawalpindi.^[16] As his aide, he was actively involved in his two major diplomatic initiatives. First, to normalize strained relations with neighboring India, back-channel diplomacy was initiated to resolve the contentious issue of Kashmir. He participated in many meetings between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings and in Dehli in 2005.^[17]

The back-channel contacts and meetings lead to the formalization of the Musharraf-Manmohan 'Four Point' Formula which was to be inked during Manmohan Singh's visit to Pakistan in July 2007^[18] but due to the events leading up to the 2007 Pakistani state of emergency & judicial crisis in Pakistan, the scheduled visit was cancelled and with it extinguished the hope of a resolution to the Kashmir dispute. Second, Musharraf's initiative of a rapprochement with Israel through informal contacts.^[19] Musharraf attended a dinner by the Jewish community in honor of him in New York on the sidelines of the September 2005 UN General Assembly meeting.^[20]

As Commander IV Corps

Shah was made Commander IV Corps after the retirement of Commander IV Corps Lt. Gen. Shahid Aziz.

As Commander IV Corps he conceptualised and made first ever medical college associated with Combined Military Hospital Lahore in a span of five months .^[21]

He established the Cardiac Centre, Trauma, and Diagnostic centers at CMH Lahore.^[22] During Shah's tenure, to support a government initiative to establish a new university in Pakistan, the Pakistan Army’s Lahore Corps donated 80 Acres of Defence Housing Authority land to the Graz University of Technology to establish its campus.^[23] He also established a first ever polytechnic providing technical skills to the youth from all over Pakistan, by Army,with free boarding and lodging.

Retirement

Shah retired on 9 November 2009 after serving as Chief Logistics Staff at the GHQ.

Ambassador to Jordan

Shah was Ambassador to the Kingdom of Jordan, also accredited to the State of Palestine. At a ceremony marking the 70th Independence Day of Pakistan, he congratulated Jordanian writer Omar Nazar al Armouti for his book on the unresolved issues of Kashmir and Palestine.^[25][26] He was involved in the sale of Cobra helicopters and F-16 aircraft from Jordan to Pakistan.^[27]

2021 Pandora Papers leaks

It was reported in the Pandora Papers leaks by the ICIJ that Shah's wife bought a flat in London through an offshore transaction in 2007, allegedly for $1.2 million.^[28][29] He wrote on Twitter that the property's value was less than half of what was quoted in the leak, and that it is not illegal to buy property in the United Kingdom through an offshore company.^[28][30] According to him, he had bought the flat as an investment property in order to pay for his son's education.^[31] and it had been declared in all of his tax returns and even to the Army Authorities at the time of purchase .^[30]

He also doubted the intentions of the journalists who reported the story. He further tweeted that "one of the journalists involved with investigations, Malia Pulitzer, has recently stayed in India for 2 years and it is a typical RAW practice to malign Pakistan Army officers with criminals".^[28]

The names of more than 700 Pakistanis, including PPP and PTI ministers, were brought to light by the ICIJ in October 2021.^[32]