Islamabad: Veteran Pakistani diplomats Syed Ibne Abbas and Jalil Abbas Jilani would be the new Pakistani envoys to India and the US respectively as part of a wide-ranging reshuffle of envoys in key capitals around the world.
Abbas would be replacing current High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir, official sources said.
"Bashir was reemployed after retirement. So the new government is appointing a new envoy," an official source in the government told PTI.
Abbas is a career diplomat and had earlier served as Counsellor (political) at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. He had also served as the Director of the Kashmir Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here and was the Director General of the South Asia division.
His appointment comes at a time when tensions along the LoC have increased.
Bashir was appointed as the High Commissioner to India by the previous PPP-led government after his retirement as the Foreign Secretary.
The change was expected with the new Nawaz Sharif government taking over.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sharif had met in Septemeber and stressed on the need for bringing down tensions at the LoC.
Sharif has on numerous occasions said he wants better ties with India and resolution of all outstanding issues in a peaceful manner.
Meanwhile, sources said Foreign Secretary Jilani will be the new ambassador to the US ahead of Sharif's visit to Washington in October. He will be replaced by Abdul Basit, currently Ambassador to Germany, they added.
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