Geetika Srivastava, first woman to lead the Indian mission in Pakistan

New Delhi:

Geetika Srivastava will be India’s new charge d’affaires at its High Commission in Islamabad, becoming the first woman to hold that position.

She is currently serving as Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), succeeding Dr M. Suresh Kumar, who is likely to return to New Delhi.

Although the job involves several responsibilities, a charge d’affaires is a diplomat who temporarily heads a diplomatic mission in a foreign country in the absence of the Ambassador or High Commissioner.

Diplomatic missions between Commonwealth countries are called High Commissions, while those between non-Commonwealth countries are called Embassies.

The Indian and Pakistani missions in Islamabad and New Delhi have been without High Commissioners since August 2019 and are headed by their respective charge d’affaires.

Ajay Bisaria was the last Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad before Pakistan downgraded the status of the High Commission following the repeal of Article 370.

Since 1947, when the late Sri Prakasa took over as the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, there have been 22 heads of mission. Srivastava, an officer in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 2005, will become the first woman to hold that position.

She served on the High Commission of India in China from 2007 to 2009 and also held posts at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata and as Director of the Indian Ocean Region division at the Ministry of External Affairs.

Indian women diplomats have worked in Pakistan before, but not in such senior positions as this one. Furthermore, the role of a High Commissioner in Pakistan, in addition to the rigors of international diplomacy, especially between two countries that have been at loggerheads since 1947, comes with a unique set of challenges.

Islamabad was designated as a “non-family” post for Indian diplomats a few years ago, which influences the limitation on women officers taking up that position.