NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has appointed Geetika Srivastava, as the first woman charge d'affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
Women diplomats have been posted to Pakistan earlier, but not at the highest level. It is also considered a tough posting since Islamabad was declared a “non-family” posting for Indian diplomats some years ago. That usually limits women officers from taking up the assignment in Pakistan.
Geetika Srivastava is currently serving as joint secretary at the headquarters of the MEA and will replace Suresh Kumar, who will return to Delhi soon.
Srivastava, who is from the 2005 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, served in the Indian embassy in China during 2007-09. She has also had stints at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and as a director of the Indian Ocean Region division in the External Affairs Ministry.
The last Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad was Ajay Bisaria, who was withdrawn after Pakistan decided to downgrade the status of the High Commission following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
The Indian and Pakistani high commissions in Islamabad and Delhi are being headed by their respective charge d'affaires after Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has chosen Saad Warraich, currently director general of the Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry, as the new chargé d’affaires in New Delhi.
Salman Sharif, the previous Pakistani chargé d’affaires, was recently called back to Islamabad.