- By Nidhi Giri
- Tue, 12 Nov 2024 06:25 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Ikramuddin Kamil has been appointed as acting consul in Mumbai by the Talib regime in Afghanistan, a Taliban-controlled media outlet reported on Monday, marking the first such appointment in India.There was no official word from the Indian side on the development, which follows the first meeting in Kabul last week between an Indian delegation and the Taliban’s acting defence minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob. Kamil is already in Mumbai and, according to the Taliban’s foreign ministry, will handle consular services.
The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) cited sources in that country’s foreign ministry as confirming Kamil’s appointment as the “acting consul of the Islamic Emirate in Mumbai”. BNA’s report added: “He is currently in Mumbai, where he is fulfilling his duties as a diplomat representing the Islamic Emirate.”
Who Is Ikramuddin Kamil?
Ikramuddin Kamil holds a PhD degree in international law and previously served as deputy director in the department of security cooperation and border affairs in the foreign ministry, the report stated.
Taliban’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, also informed about Kamil’s appointment to the consulate in Mumbai in a post on X on Monday.
Kamil has lived in India for several years and his appointment was apparently brought on by the lack of diplomatic staff in New Delhi and Mumbai to handle a range of consular issues for the sizeable Afghan population in India, the people said. Most of the diplomats appointed by the previous Ashraf Ghani government, including former ambassador Farid Mamundzay, have left India.
After Mamundzay left the country in 2023, other diplomats appointed by the previous government shuttered the embassy in New Delhi in November last year, citing lack of support from the Indian side.
Zakia Wardak, then the consul in Mumbai, took over the operations of the embassy but she resigned from her position in May 2024 after reports emerged that she was detained at Mumbai airport while allegedly trying to smuggle in 25 kg of gold from Dubai.
The people cited above said Kamil is a Pashtun from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. He studied law at the Islamic University Islamabad, and then obtained MPhil and PhD degrees from the South Asian University.
Like other countries, India doesn’t recognise the Taliban regime that assumed power following the dramatic collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021. After initially closing its embassy and pulling out all its officials, the Indian side re-established a diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a “technical team” in June 2022.