A 1989-batch India Foreign Service (IFS) officer and senior diplomat, Vikram Misri, who was serving as Indian envoy in Myanmar, has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to China. He will replace Gautam Bambawale.

Misra, who was born on November 7, 1964 in Srinagar, Kashmir, did his schooling from the Scindia School in Gwalior and earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Hindu College, University of Delhi. Misri is also an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Misri has served in various capacities at the headquarters of the MEA here as well as in the Prime Minister’s Office. He has also served in various Indian Missions in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

But Misri is not the only Kashmiri to serve abroad as Indian ambassador. Durga Prasad Dhar, one of the most prominent Kashmiri diplomat and politician, served as Indian envoy to Soviet Union twice: 1969-71 and in 1975 till his death.

Born in 1918, in an affluent Kashmiri Pandit family in Srinagar, Dhar graduated in arts and then went to Lucknow University in Uttar Pradesh for a law degree.

Dhar was also a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Security Council meeting in 1949, and the Indian delegation to United Nations General Assembly in the Paris Session of 1952.

Another important diplomat of Kashmiri origin was Triloki Nath Kaul, who joined Indian Civil Service in 1939. After 1947, he became a member of the Indian Foreign Service. Kaul served as Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, U S, and China, as well as Deputy High Commissioner and acting High Commissioner to the UK, and Foreign Secretary to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Kaul, who was born in 1913 in Baramulla, was also the Vice-Chairman of the Indian unit of the UNESCO and Chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Another prominent face was Pratap Kishen Kaul, who served as Indian Ambassador to the United States from 1986 to 1989. Kaul was succeeded by another Kashmiri, Karan Singh. Son of a Dogra ruler of Kashmir Mahraja Hari Singh, Karan Singh also served as Indian Ambassador to United States between 1989 and 1990.

19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche was a Buddhist lama, who also served as India’s ambassador to Mongolia. He was born in the Matho branch of the Royal House of Ladakh, India.

Other prominent Kashmiri faces who served as Indian envoys were Ratan Kumar Nehru, who served as Indian ambassador to China (1955-58) and to the United Arab Republic during 1958-60.

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