New Delhi, Mar 16 : Sharat Sabharwal, currently the special secretary in charge of administration, consular, paasport and visa affairs in the External Affairs Ministry, has been appointed as India's new envoy to Pakistan.

He will succeed Satyabrata Pal, whose extended term has ended on February 28. He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.

Sabharwal, a 1975 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS), has served as India's deputy high commissioner in Islamabad between 1995-1999.

He has also served as India's deputy permanent representative to Geneva and Ambassador to Uzbekistan.

Sabharwal's stint in Islamabad will also coincide with extreme volatility in Pakistani politics, with a weak civilian government grappling with an increasingly assertive military, a restless civil society and a resurgent Taliban spreading its net of extremism in Pakistan. (ANI)