NEW DELHI: India has appointed Ajay Bisaria the new high commissioner to Pakistan to replace Ambassador Gautam Bambawale.
Current high commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale has been appointed the ambassador to China and India’s ambassador to Poland Ajay Bisaria will be the next high commissioner to Pakistan, Indian newspapers reported.
The reshuffle was necessitated by appointment of India’s ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale as Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA. Gokhale played the lead role in defusing the Doklam crisis with Beijing and is now being tipped as India’s next foreign secretary in case government doesn’t give another extension to S Jaishankar in January.
Bambawale and Bisaria are widely acknowledged as MEA’s best and both have in the past handled several sensitive postings. A 1984 batch IFS officer, Bambawale has served as joint secretary of East Asia Division where he handled both China and Japan. He, in fact, was one of the longest serving joint secretaries there with his tenure lasting from 2009 to 2014.
Gokhale was reported to have played a major role in the Doklam crisis pertaining to the border standoff between India and China.
During Bambawale’s tenure, Pakistan and India’s relations witnessed several lows and ups, with the most notable scenario being the Pakistan forces getting hold of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.
Published in Daily Times, September 18th 2017.
