New Delhi names its disarmament envoy

Sources say that with India having finally come of age in international nuclear politics, it was imperative to have a separate envoy to focus on these issues in Geneva, even if the Swiss city looks it may get a bit crowded with senior Indian officials posted there.

Every major country, especially the nuclear five, have separate ambassadorial posts to deal with the wealth of detail, besides the thrust and parry of nuanced nuclear policy. For India, as a de facto nuclear power, it was thought fit to have an acknowledged expert on these issues.

The Permanent Representative’s post in Geneva (current incumbent is Savitri Kunadi) will therefore be bifurcated, with Sood handling disarmament matters and Kunadi dealing with UN-related issues.

Meanwhile, the ambassador handling WTO and other trade-related issues (a Commerce ministry post) will remain as will India’s envoy to Switzerland in Berne.

Joint secretary in the PMO, dealing with MEA, atomic energy, space, etc, Prabhat Shukla, is being posted to relatively quieter Singapore. Shukla has been the key person coordinating policy across three governments, working under Prime Ministers H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and now, A B Vajpayee.

Alok Prasad, joint secretary in the Americas division, who has been the pointperson in India’s relations with the US for the last three years, has overseen the yoyo-like relationship with Washington. From Pokharan, when the US slapped sanctions on India, to the present moment, when it has accepted a minimum nuclear deterrent, Prasad has been there.

Now he heads for Mauritius to replace High Commissioner Manilal Tripathi who is going to Bangladesh. Tripathi succeeds Dev Mukherjee who is going as ambassador to Nepal, who in turn is succeeding K V Rajan, who is returning home as Secretary (East) in the MEA.

The appointment of the new High Commissioner to Pakistan has already been announced. Vijay Nambiar, an acknowledged China hand and the current envoy to Beijing — his last big visit will be the President’s trip to China next month — is succeeding G. Parthasarathy in Islamabad, who is retiring.

Meanwhile, India’s ambassador to Vietnam Aftab Seth is going as the new envoy to Japan, while the new joint secretary in the Gulf division of MEA is Swashpavan Singh. He replaced Talmiz Ahmed, who has gone as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

But even though Sood and Prasad’s appointments were announced today, it is unlikely they will move to their new posts in a hurry. Both will most likely be around to prepare for Vajpayee’s visit to the US — to Washington and New York to attend the millennium summit of the UN general Assembly — in September.