WEB DESK
The Indian High Commission in Islamabad will soon have a woman diplomat Geetika Srivastava as its chargé d’affaires.
Srivastava is expected to take up her assignment after the term of the current CdA Suresh Kumar ends, reports Tribune.
The Pakistan media reported that she would be the first-ever incharge of the Indian mission. It said she was another addition to the “Female Diplomatic Club”, as her appointment comes soon after the UK posted its first woman envoy in Pakistan.
Since 2919, there has been no full-time high commissioner in Islamabad and New Delhi with middle level diplomats posted as chargé d’affaires.
The last Indian high commissioner in Islamabad Ajay Bisaria was expelled in 2019 after Pakistan downgradeddiplomatic ties after India revoked the special status to J&K. India also followed suit and expelled the Pakistani envoy.
Srivastava is presently Joint Secretary of the Indo-Pacific desk in MEA which looks after India’s multilateral diplomacy with ASEAN, IORA and others.
She speaks Chinese (Mandarin) fluently. Originally from Uttar Pradesh, she has also served as Regional Passport Officer in Kolkata and Director in the IOR Division of the Ministry of External Affairs.