India appoints new High Commissioner to Pakistan

Published June 6, 2013
Dr TCA Raghavan is currently serving as India's High Commissioner to Singapore.—AP/File Photo
Dr TCA Raghavan is currently serving as India's High Commissioner to Singapore.—AP/File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Dr TCA Raghavan has been appointed as the new Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, and is expected to take office by the end of June.

According to a press release by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Raghavan is expected to take up his assignment shortly.

A senior diplomat of the Indian High Commission told Dawn.com that the current High Commissioner, Sharat Sabharwal, will retire on June 30.

This will be the first high profile diplomatic transition in Islamabad after the formation of the new PML-N-led federal government in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has repeatedly extended peace overtures to India, promising to usher a new era of friendly relations with the neighbouring country.

India and Pakistan have witnessed a slump in diplomatic relations since the 2008 Mumbai attacks fracture bilateral ties. The outgoing Indian High Commissioner is also known to have maintained a low profile throughout his stay in Islamabad.

Raghavan, who has previously served as Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad from 2003 to 2007, is known as a diplomat with a thorough understanding of Pakistan’s political dynamics.

A well-respected career diplomat, Raghavan has previously served on key diplomatic assignments in Pakistan, United Kingdom, Bhutan, and Kuwait since he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. He is currently serving as India’s Higher Commissioner to Singapore.

Raghavan is a graduate from the University of Delhi, with a Post Graduation in History and PhD in Modern Indian History from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Opinion

Editorial

Strange claim
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Strange claim

In all likelihood, Pakistan and US will continue to be ‘frenemies'.
Media strangulation
Updated 21 Dec, 2024

Media strangulation

Administration must decide whether it wishes to be remembered as an enabler or an executioner of press freedom.
Israeli rampage
21 Dec, 2024

Israeli rampage

ALONG with the genocide in Gaza, Israel has embarked on a regional rampage, attacking Arab and Muslim states with...
Tax amendments
Updated 20 Dec, 2024

Tax amendments

Bureaucracy gimmicks have not produced results, will not do so in the future.
Cricket breakthrough
20 Dec, 2024

Cricket breakthrough

IT had been made clear to Pakistan that a Champions Trophy without India was not even a distant possibility, even if...
Troubled waters
20 Dec, 2024

Troubled waters

LURCHING from one crisis to the next, the Pakistani state has been consistent in failing its vulnerable citizens....