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India Appoints New Pakistan Ambassador

Just a few weeks after India implicated Pakistan`s intelligence service in the July bombings of a Mumbai train which killed hundreds, New Delhi has appointed a new envoy to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (which is Pakistan`s official name). Satyabrata Pal, who is at present India`s "High Commissioner" (ambassador) to South Africa, will replace Shiv Shankar Menon as High Commissioner to Pakistan. Menon ascended to the position of Foreign Secretary of India on October 1.

There has been no date given as to when Pal will officially begin his term in Pakistan, with which India has fought several wars over the disputed region of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear arms. India and the United States, despite sharing democratic values, were during the Cold War years basically on opposite sides as India developed warm ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Pakistan, despite its role in harboring terrorists, has become something of an ally for America in the war on terrorism following 9/11.

Both India and Pakistan have condemned North Korea`s claim of having tested a nuclear weapon on Monday, India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998, and Pakistan followed up India`s `98 tests with nuclear tests of its own. Both nations were put under United States sanctions for a time, but now share relatively warm relations with Washington, and India`s ties with the U.S. have begun an unprecedented strengthening.