A major diplomatic reshuffle is on the cards with the South Block planning to send Sudhir Vyas, the recently expelled Charge de’ Affairs from Pakistan, to replace K.C. Singh as India’s representative in the United Arab Emirates. Sources say while Singh will replace P.P.S. Haer as Ambassador to Iran, the latter will go to Ireland. Also, political appointee Mohammed Kamaluddin Ahmed will be sent as the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in place of Talmiz Ahmed. The latter moves as Ambassador to Zimbabwe. Apparently, the decision to move Vyas to UAE and Singh to Iran was taken by the Ministry of External Affairs last month and agreements, seeking ambassadorial-level appointments, had already been sent to the respective governments. While Vyas was posted as Deputy High Commissioner to Islamabad in July 1999, K.C. Singh was in UAE since March 1999. It is said that the government is also considering posting Harsh Bhasin, the Ambassador-in-Waiting to Islamabad, given the current freeze in India-Pak ties. Bhasin, who retires in August 2004, has been waiting for his posting in the South Block since 2001. Even the appointment of T.C.A. Raghavan as Vyas’ replacement hangs fire with Islamabad still to clear his visa. Same is the case with Munawar Saeed Bhatty, the Pakistani choice for Deputy High Commissioner to India, in place of Jalil Abbas Jilani. As of now, Vikram Misri is the Indian Charge de’ Affairs in Islamabad and Pakistan’s representative to Delhi is Ibn Abbas. The appointment of Kamaluddin Ahmed, at present a member of the Planning Commission, to Riyadh is significant as he was instrumental in signing a Haj Agreement with the Saudi Government in 2003. Ahmed was Minister of State for Civil Supplies in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government and was elected to Lok Sabha four times. He later joined the BJP. His appointment to Riyadh comes at a time when Saudis are concerned over the impact of a possible US-Iraq war on their internal politics. K.C. Singh, during his Abu Dhabi tenure, was busy convincing the Emirates government to take action against Indian criminals taking refuge in Dubai and the need to extradite them. But till date, Abu Dhabi has delivered only small fries to New Delhi, apart from some big fish like Dawood Ibrahim’s brothers Noora and Mushtakeen. All the same, Singh has been rewarded with the plum posting to Tehran and it is now upto Vyas to take up India’s most-wanted list.
