Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday approved the early retirement request of Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit.
Abdul Basit, who is serving as Pakistan's High Commissioner had submitted an application to Prime Minister Sharif for his early retirement as he ostensibly did not want to work under Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua - who is junior to him but was picked for the top bureaucratic slot a few months earlier. Mr Basit was originally set to retire from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2018.
Career diplomat Sohail Mahmood will replace Basit as the new Pakistan high commissioner to India in August. Mr Basit has already completed his three-year tenure in New Delhi.
Mahmood, 55, currently Pakistan's envoy in Turkey, is a career diplomat who joined the Foreign Service in 1985. Abdul Basit joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1982 and has held several diplomatic assignments at Pakistani Missions abroad.
Prior to his appointment as the High Commissioner to India in March 2014, Mr Basit had served as Pakistan's Ambassador to Germany from May 2012 till March 2014.
