NEW DELHI (TIP): India and Pakistan are likely to press the reset button in bilateral relations with Islamabad looking to appoint a new high commissioner to India, top diplomatic sources said.

Pakistan’s high commissioner to India Abdul Basit will complete three years here next month and he has been recalled in yet another sign that Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif is in complete control of foreign policy.

“Pakistan will announce the name of the new high commissioner in a few days,” said a diplomatic source on condition of anonymity.

One of the names being considered is that of Sohail Mahmood, a career diplomat of 1985 batch. He has earlier served in Washington, New York and Ankara. Basit was said to be a certainty for the position of Pakistan’s foreign secretary but was pipped by Tehmina Janjua, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva.

Janjua is said to be the choice of Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. The fact that Basit was seen as taking a hawkish position on most contentious issues with India is said to have gone against him in Islamabad’s choice of foreign secretary.

Sharif in the past few months, or more specifically since the retirement of former army chief Raheel Sharif, has been keen to reach out to India. This has reflected in some of the steps taken by his government, including the release of Indian fishermen in December on his birthday and later also in the release again of an Indian soldier who was said to have “inadvertently” crossed over into Pakistan territory the day India carried out its surgical strikes across LoC.

While the house arrest of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed probably has more to do with the change in US administration, the timing has only lent credence to the perception that Sharif is serious about improving ties with India. As has been reported earlier by this newspaper from Islamabad, the fact that Sharif could conveniently ignore Basit’s claim to the foreign secretary’s post only shows his growing clout after the departure of Raheel Sharif. (PTI)