Geetika Srivastava (IFS:2005), a woman diplomat, is set to become the first women chargé d’affaires at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, according to sources on Monday. She will take over after the term of the current CdA Suresh Kumar ends.
Since 2019, middle-level diplomats have been appointed as chargé d’affaires due to the absence of a full-time high commissioner in Islamabad. The last Indian high commissioner, Ajay Bisaria (IFS:1987), was expelled in 2019 as part of diplomatic tensions when Pakistan downgraded ties after India’s revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir. India reciprocated by expelling the Pakistani envoy.
Currently serving as the Joint Secretary of the Indo-Pacific desk in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Srivastava oversees India’s multilateral diplomacy with ASEAN, IORA, and other nations.
On the other side, Pakistan has named Saad Warraich, the Director General for Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as their chargé d’affaires to India.
