Indian High Commissioner Dr TCA Raghavan on Tuesday paid a farewell call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM House.
The two discussed matters of bilateral interest during the meeting.
Raghavan was appointed Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan in June 2013. His was the first high-profile diplomatic transition in Islamabad after the formation of the new PML-N-led federal government in Pakistan.
The envoy had previously served as Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad from 2003 to 2007 and was known as a diplomat with a thorough understanding of Pakistan’s political dynamics.
A well-respected career diplomat, Raghavan has previously served on key diplomatic assignments in Pakistan, United Kingdom, Bhutan, and Kuwait since he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. Prior to his tenure as Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, he served as Indian High Commissioner to Singapore.
The meeting comes a few days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke diplomatic protocol to pay a surprise birthday visit to PM Nawaz Sharif, betting his personal brand on his ability to revive a troubled relationship.
Spurning official talks in the capital, Islamabad, the Indian premier chose to make a trip to Nawaz Sharif’s residence in Raiwind on Friday, where he was celebrating his birthday and the wedding of his granddaughter.
Modi‘s decision to drop in for talks with Pakistan‘s leader something ex-premier Manmohan Singh failed to do in ten years of power was roundly welcomed in India where it was seen as a highly calculated personal gamble.
Modi and Sharif have had a stop-start diplomatic relationship since the Indian premier‘s surprise invitation to Sharif to his inauguration in May 2014.
Initial optimism about a revival of ties was short-lived as the two countries traded heavy fire across their disputed border in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir which claimed dozens of lives on both sides.
But this month, they agreed to resume high-level talks that would cover peace and security as well as territorial disputes, including over Kashmir.
