Geetika Srivastava will be India’s next charge d’affaires at its High Commission in Islamabad, being the first woman to be appointed to the position.
A charge d’affaires is a diplomat who momentarily leads a mission of diplomacy in a foreign country in lieu of the Ambassador or High Commissioner, albeit the position carries multiple obligations.
High Commissions are the term used for diplomatic missions involving Commonwealth nations, while Embassies are used for operations between non-Commonwealth nations.
Table of Contents
Woman In Power: Geetika Srivastava
She is going to replace Dr. M. Suresh Kumar, who has been serving as joint secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and is set to go back to New Delhi.
She is going to be the first person to ever lead the Indian mission, also stated by several Pakistani media outlets. She was described as an additional member of the “Female Diplomatic Club” given that the UK just sent its first female representative to Pakistan. This selection marks a first for Indian diplomacy, which has traditionally only ever had male ambassadors serving in its posts.
The government has chosen a woman IFS official to head its High Commission in Pakistan, despite the two countries presently having a reduced status of diplomatic representation in each other’s capitals. Beginning in August 2019, the Indian and Pakistani operations in Islamabad and New Delhi have operated sans high commissioners; instead, they are each other’s charge d’affaires. Before Pakistan lowered the status of the High Commission as a result of the repeal of Article 370, which scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, Ajay Bisaria served as the final Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad.
Additionally, there have been a total of 22 heads of the diplomatic mission since 1947, when the departed Sri Prakasa assumed leadership as India’s High Commissioner in Pakistan.
Geetika’s Previous Positions
Ms Srivastava, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer since 2005, will hold the position as the very first woman.
At the moment, Srivastava is the Joint Secretary of MEA’s Indo-Pacific desk, which manages India’s multilateral diplomacy with ASEAN, IORA, as well as additional organisations.
From 2007 to 2009, she worked at the Indian High Commission in China as a Mandarin speaker who had studied the language as an element of her foreign language education. Originally from Uttar Pradesh, she also held positions at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and the External Affairs Ministry’s Directorate for the Indian Ocean Region.
Setting The Benchmark
Women from India were once employed as diplomats in Pakistan, but rarely in roles of leadership like this. Along with the difficulties associated with global diplomatic endeavours, particularly between two nations that have been at odds since 1947, the position of High Commissioner in Pakistan also presents its own peculiar set of difficulties.
A number of years ago, Islamabad came to be known as a “non-family” posting for Indian diplomats. This restriction prevents female officers from applying for the position.
A new CDA has also been appointed by Pakistan in New Delhi. Salman Sharif was replaced by career diplomat Saad Ahmad Warraich, who had worked at Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York after he departed India a few weeks prior and headed to Islamabad.
At the moment, the Indian High Commission has employed a woman diplomat in the post of First Secretary. Srivastava is anticipated to begin her work in Islamabad soon, according to one of the people with knowledge of the situation.
