Abdul Basit will return to Pakistan, envoy to Turkey is set to replace him

While Mahmood hasn’t served in India before, that has hardly been a criterion for selecting Pakistan’s envoy to India

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Abdul Basit in Delhi. (Source: Express Archive Photo by Renuka Puri)

PAKISTAN’S HIGH Commissioner to India Abdul Basit is likely to be replaced, with Islamabad’s envoy to Turkey Sohail Mahmood emerging as the frontrunner for the post, top sources told The Indian Express. Basit, who was a contender for the post of Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary, lost out to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Tehmina Janjua. Since Janjua has passed over about half-a-dozen diplomats, the shift in key ambassadorial posts is imminent.

Pakistan High Commission sources said Basit’s new role would become clear in a few days. Sohail Mahmood, a career diplomat, joined Pakistan’s foreign service in 1985. “Mahmood is a senior diplomat who has handled high pressure responsibilities, and can do this job well,” said a Pakistan government source privy to the developments.

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While Mahmood hasn’t served in India before, that has hardly been a criterion for selecting Pakistan’s envoy to India — neither Basit nor his predecessors, Salman Bashir and Shahid Malik, served in India before being posted as the high commissioner. Mahmood’s first posting abroad was in Ankara, where he served at the Pakistan Embassy from 1991-1994. Since then, he has served in various Pakistan missions abroad, including Washington, New York and Ankara. He was Pakistan’s Ambassador to Thailand from 2009-2013.

Before assuming his position at Ankara, Mahmood was Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, where he earlier served as Director General (2005-2009), Director (1995-1998) and Section Officer (1986-1991). He is one of the senior most officers of the Pakistan Foreign Service. Born in 1962, Mahmood holds Masters degrees in History and International Relations.

Among other contenders for the New Delhi position are Afrasiab Mehdi Qureshi (currently High Commissioner to New Zealand), Iftikhar Aziz (Additional Foreign Secretary for Administration in headquarters), Tasnim Aslam (Additional Foreign Secretary for UN Affairs), Farrukh Amil (Ambassador to Japan) and Syed Ibrar Hussain (Ambassador to Afghanistan). Janjua’s elevation has created a situation where diplomats from a batch junior — BS-21 — will get the opportunity to serve in prominent positions. She was among the juniors in the BS-22 batch — the highest grade among Pakistan’s foreign service officers.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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