Key postings of Indian envoys to Pakistan, China, the UK and the UN have been done in a major reshuffle at the top echelons of the External Affairs Ministry.
While Navtej Sarna, presently secretary (west) in the ministry, will be the next top envoy to London, replacing Ranjan Mathai; while Gautam Bambawale, India’s ambassador to Bhutan, will take over as High Commissioner to Pakistan from TCA Raghavan, who is retiring on December 31 this year. However, Sarna is expected to take over only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK in mid-November.
Syed Akbaruddin, former high-profile Spokesperson of the MEA and Joint Secretary in the XP division and currently Additional Secretary in charge of Indo-Africa Summit to be held in October, will be going as the next Permanent Representative of India to the UN, New York. He will replace Asoke Mukerji. Vijay Gokhale, India's ambassador to Germany, will take over from Ashok Kantha in Beijing.
Other postings include that of Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east), as ambassador to Rome and Pankaj Saran, who will replace PS Raghavan in Moscow. According to sources, most of these positions will be taken up by late December 2015 or early January 2016.
At ministry headquarters, Amar Sinha and Amarendra Khatua will be the next secretaries East and West, respectively. While Sinha is India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, <g data-gr-id="26">Khatua</g> is India’s envoy to Argentina. Harsh V Shringla, former Joint Secretary in-charge of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar and Indian envoy to Bangkok, will be heading to crucial posting to Bangladesh. Indian Ambassador to Mexico Sujan Chinoy will be going as Ambassador to Japan to replace Deepa Wadhwa. However, Wadhwa is expected to continue till the visit of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe likely to be in early December.