New Delhi, August 31
India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon was today appointed the next Foreign Secretary. He will assume the office on October 1.
Mr Menon has superseded 16 senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officials, including two Secretaries in the headquarters here — Secretary (East) Rajiv Sikri and Secretary (West) Shashi U. Tripathi — and two Ambassadors — T.C.A. Rangachari (Paris) and Shiv Shanker Mukherjee (Kathmandu).
Mr Menon, born on July 5, 1949, will retire on July 31, 2009, thus leaving him a tenure of two years and 10 months.
Present incumbent Shyam Saran has been appointed India’s Special Envoy for negotiations relating to the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement. Mr Saran will be positioned in the Prime Minister’s Office.
It is understood that Mr Saran was asked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whether he wanted extension of his tenure as Foreign Secretary.
Mr Saran is learned to have asked for a fixed tenure of
extension, which could not be worked out because of technicalities.
When Mr Saran retires as Foreign Secretary, he will have completed two years and two months in the office.Mr Menon, who had been here for the past several days, was summoned by the Prime Minister, whom he met on August 27. Mr Saran was also present at the meeting.
Mr Menon left for Islamabad this evening. He is expected to return after a short while to prepare for his new responsibility.
Mr Menon has been India’s envoy to four important countries — Israel, Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan.
But what got him the job of Foreign Secretary was his tenure in the Department of Atomic Energy, where he held the position of Adviser to the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mr Menon’s expertise is expected to come in handy bearing in mind that there has been an increasing focus on atomic energy the world over and India has entered into a historic nuclear civilian cooperation deal with the US.
The government has ensured continuity by the twin appointments. While Mr Menon will be the key Indian foreign policy architect and oversee all foreign policy-related issues, Mr Saran will be India’s point man for the Indo-US nuclear deal — clearly the biggest diplomatic challenge for New Delhi today.
However, it will be Mr Menon who will be in the saddle and part of the decision-making process even on Indo-US nuclear deal.
Mr Menon started his career with the IFS in 1972, after having done his Master’s in History from Delhi University.
His other important diplomatic assignments include stints in Vienna and Tokyo.
In spite of his busy schedule in the IFS, he has managed to keep up with his interests in classical music and the Himalayas.
He is well versed in numerous foreign languages, especially in Chinese and German.
