Besides, he has also served in Moscow, Washington DC, Colombo and Budapest. He was also Press Secretary to the President, from March 1993 to January 1994, during Shankar Dayal Sharma’s presidency. His successor in Singapore will be T C A Raghavan, who is currently heading the sensitive Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran desk (popularly known as the PAI division), since March 2007.

Having served as Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad from February 2003 to March 2007, Raghavan was crucial in crafting India’s diplomatic response in the post-26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

A 1982-batch diplomat, Raghavan was director in the office of External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh from March 2000 to February 2003. He also served in Indian embassies in London, Thimpu and Kuwait. Raghavan, who also speaks Arabic, is a PhD in history.