Meet the first woman to head Indian mission in Pakistan

India and Pakistan have a tumultuous relationship and hence diplomats tread a tightrope. Now for the first time since Independence, India has appointed a woman to head its mission in the neighbouring nation. Geetika Srivastava, a 2005 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, will be the new Charge d’Affaires (CDA) in Islamabad. She will take over from M Suresh Kumar, who is expected to return to New Delhi. Since August 2019, the India and Pakistan missions have not been headed by high commissioners. Following the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad decided to downgrade ties with India. The relationship between the two arch-rivals hit an all-time low as Pakistan-based groups continue terror-related activities across the border. With no high commissioners, the CDA, who is equivalent to a joint secretary, is the highest-ranking diplomat in Islamabad. Srivastava then will be leading India’s High Commission in Pakistan and has her task cut out. Who is Geetika Srivastava? The IFS officer currently serves as joint secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and is looking into the Indo-Pacific division, according to a report in The Indian Express. This unit looks after India’s multilateral diplomacy with ASEAN, IORA, FIPIC, and other entities in the Indo-Pacific region. Srivastava also served in the Indian embassy in China from 2007 to 2009. She learnt Mandarin as part of her foreign language training. She had stints at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and worked as the director of the Indian Ocean Region division in the MEA. She is expected to start her assignment shortly. What is the role of the Charge d’affaires? According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Charge d’affaires is the lowest rank of diplomatic representation in a country. They head the mission in the absence of an ambassador, as is the case with India and Pakistan. The appointment is made in cases where tenuous diplomatic relations exist between two nations. Has India sent women diplomats to Pakistan? Yes, India has sent women diplomats to Pakistan but not in high-ranking positions. Serving in Pakistan comes with challenges of its own. A few years ago, Islamabad was declared a “non-family posting” for Indian diplomats. This made it difficult for women to take up the assignment, as their spouses and children could not accompany them. As of now, the Indian High Commission has one woman diplomat, who works at the first secretary level, reports The Indian Express. Since Independence, there have been 22 heads of missions, all of them men. Sri Prakasa was first the Indian High Commissioner sent to the then Dominion of Pakistan. The freedom fighter and administrator served from 1947 to 1949. Who was India’s last High Commissioner to Islamabad? The last Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad was Ajay Bisaria. He was withdrawn after Pakistan downgraded the status of the High Commission after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Who has Pakistan appointed? The Pakistani government has picked Saad Warraich as the new Charge d’affaires in New Delhi. He is currently serving as the director general of the Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey desk at the foreign ministry. Salman Sharif, the previous Pakistani charge d’affaires, was recently called back to Islamabad. With inputs from agencies