Geetika Shrivastava, a civil servant and an IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officer of the 2005 cadre, has been appointed as the new charge of ‘affairs at the High Commission of Pakistan in Islamabad. The appointment marks the first time a female diplomat will lead India’s mission in Pakistan.
According to media reports, she will succeed Suresh Kumar, who will be returning to New Delhi soon. She will be the senior-most Indian Diplomat posted in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
Since 1947, when Sri Prakasa was sent to the Indian High Commissioner to then Dominion of Pakistan, New Delhi has been represented by male diplomats, and there have been 22 heads of the missions.
Absence of High Commissioners in Bilateral ties
India and Pakistan do not have high commissioners in each other’s capital cities. The highest-ranking diplomat is a CDA (Charge D Affairs) who is a Joint Secretary rank equivalent officer.
Pakistan had expelled Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria minutes after it decided to downgrade the diplomatic ties with India over what it called New Delhi’s “unilateral and illegal” move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
This was announced after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a crucial meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), attended by top civil and military leadership, during which it was also decided to suspend the bilateral trade and review the arrangements. As a response, Pakistan decided to downgrade the status of the High Commission following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Credentials
Prior to her new assignment, Srivastava served as the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and currently heads the Indo-Pacific Division. She is fluent in Mandarin, which she learnt as a part of her foreign language training.
She also served in the Indian Embassy in China during 2007-2009. She also had stints at the Regional Passports Office in Kerala and was also the Director of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in the MEA.
Although women diplomats have been posted to Pakistan earlier, they are not at the highest level. It is considered the hardest posting since Islamabad was declared a non-family posting for Indian Diplomats a few years ago. This usually limits women officers from taking up assignments in Pakistan.
