August 2019 brought one of the sharpest disruptions in India–Pakistan relations as India revoked Article 370, which had granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The move rattled Islamabad, sparking hurried diplomacy and an atmosphere thick with speculation. Here, Ajay Bisaria, then India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, recounts the emotional weight and professional turbulence of navigating an abrupt exit from one of the world’s most fraught diplomatic frontlines.
My departure from Pakistan in August 2019 was rather sudden.
A gorgeous orange sun dipped into the horizon as I gazed out of the window of the armoured black BMW driving me to the Islamabad International Airport, a new facility, still leaking from recent rains. I felt short-changed by my unusual diplomatic exit as High Commissioner. No fancy farewell reception, no series of dinners with special Balochi meats and Punjabi hospitality, no goodbye speeches, no jhappi-pappis, no media interviews, no witty recalls of my adventures in Islamabad mansions, not even a hurried shopping trip to Jinnah Super (Market) for mementoes. I had a gnawing sense of leaving behind an unfinished agenda, things I had forgotten to do, but could not quite recall what. It felt more like an interruption than a closure.