Sohail Mahmood to replace Abdul Basit as Pakistan’s high commissioner to India amid stand-off between two countries

Amid the tense relations between India and Pakistan over the beheading of Indian army soldiers and death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Pakistani government has approved its top diplomat Sohail Mahmood as the country’s next high commissioner to India, reports have said.

According to a report in Times of India, diplomatic sources said that visa has been given to Mahmood in order to allow him to take over from Abdul Basit and hoped that the former will contribute positively to improving bilateral ties.

Months of suspense over the appointment of Mahmood, who has been Pakistan's ambassador to Turkey, has finally come to an end with this report. It was reported on February 17 that Mahmood was likely to take over Basit as Pakistan's envoy to India.

Mahmood will take charge amid the escalating tensions between the two countries.

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Basit has already completed his three-year tenure in New Delhi and is likely to be appointed as head of Foreign Service Academy (FSA) in Islamabad.

Basit had earlier threatened to resign after he was overlooked and his junior Tehmina Janjua was appointed as Foreign Secretary but the situation had cooled down.