India appoints first-ever female business manager
ISLAMABAD: The Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad is set to welcome Geetika Srivastava as its first female chargé d’affaires, The News reported on Monday.
Another addition to the “Female Diplomatic Club”, Srivastava’s appointment comes shortly after Great Britain posted its first female High Commissioner to Pakistan.
Srivastava is expected to take up her assignment soon after the term of the current CdA – Dr Suresh Kumar – ends and he returns to New Delhi and takes up a post there.
After bilateral relations between the two neighbors took a hit in 2019, there was no full-time high commissioner in Islamabad or New Delhi, but now junior diplomats are posted as chargé d’affaires.
The last Indian High Commissioner, who served in Islamabad, was Ajay Bisaria. He was suspended in 2019 after Pakistan decided to downgrade diplomatic ties over New Delhi’s unilateral and illegal move to revoke the special status of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Many of the outstanding Indian high commissioners who served in Islamabad returned home to be promoted as foreign secretary.
Srivastava belongs to the 2005 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, where her previous assignments included a post in China.
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.
The incoming CdA is currently a Joint Secretary in charge of the Indo-Pacific Division in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.
The Indo-Pacific Division of the Ministry of External Affairs looks after India’s multilateral diplomacy with ASEAN, IORA, FIPIC, and other entities in the Indo-Pacific region.
Diplomatic sources have confirmed that Saad Warraich, currently Director General for Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran at the Ministry.
