The High Commission of the Republic of India in Islamabad is the

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. From 1976

– The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

1989, 1999

2004, and 2007

2008, the mission was known as the ''Embassy of India, Islamabad'' due to Pakistan's withdrawal or suspension from the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

during those time periods. Indo-Pakistani diplomatic relations were suspended on two separate occasions, in 1971 due to the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, and from 2001

2003 due to the

2001 Indian Parliament attack The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in New Delhi, India on 13 December 2001. The attack was carried out by five Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists that resulted in the deaths of six Delhi Police perso ...

and

2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff The 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff was a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the massing of troops on both sides of the India–Pakistan border, border and along the Line of Control (LoC) in the region of Kashmi ...

In 2019, in response to India's

revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir On 5 August 2019, the government of India revoked the special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a region administered by India as a state which consists of the larger part of Kashm ...

, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India. Since then, the diplomatic mission is being headed by a

Chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

. The incumbent Charge d'affaires is Geetika Srivastava, who is also the first woman to head the Indian diplomatic mission to Pakistan.

Location

The Indian High Commission is located in the G-5 Diplomatic Enclave,

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

History

Sri Prakasa Sri Prakasa (3 August 1890 – 23 June 1971) was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and administrator. He served as India's first High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1947 to 1949, Governor of Assam from 1949 to 1950, Governor of Madras from ...

, an Indian freedom fighter and politician was appointed as the first Indian high commissioner to Pakistan upon the request of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. Prakasa had to deal with the influx of refugees amidst the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

as well as the Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948. The original High Commission was located in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, which was Pakistan's

Federal Capital A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital (political), capital city, that serves as the Seat of government, seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices ...

from 1947-1959. The Indian High Commission moved to

in 1966 upon the relocation of Pakistan's capital city to Islamabad.

Diplomatic tensions

Amidst the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan were suspended as India recalled its High Commissioner from Pakistan. Diplomatic relations would be restored in 1976 and the Indian High Commissioner would return to Pakistan. In 2001, in the aftermath of the

, India recalled its diplomatic mission from Islamabad. Diplomatic relations were restored in 2003. In 2019, in response to India's

, a meeting of the Pakistani National Security Committee decided to downgrade Pakistan's diplomatic relations with India. The High Commissioner to India was recalled and the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan was expelled. Since then, India's High Commission in Islamabad is being headed by a

. In 2025, following the

Pahalgam attack The 2025 Pahalgam attack was a terrorist attack on tourists by five armed terrorists near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed on 22 April 2025. The militants mainly targeted Hindu tourists, tho ...

, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad saw increased security concerns, including public protests near the mission. India withdrew its military advisers from the High Commission and reduced its staff from 55 to 30. These measures were part of broader diplomatic actions amid heightened India–Pakistan tensions, including reciprocal expulsions of military personnel and the suspension of key bilateral agreements, including the suspension of the

Indus Water Treaty The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 196 ...

References

{{India–Pakistan relations

Pakistan and the Commonwealth of Nations India and the Commonwealth of Nations India–Pakistan relations

Location

History

Diplomatic tensions

See also

References