Key role for Akbar in Gulf policy

Journalist-turned-politician M J Akbar is likely to play a key role in the Modi government’s engagements with Gulf and West Asia as the new Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Akbar, a well-known commentator on Gulf and West Asia affairs, on Wednesday took over as the new Minister of State for External Affairs. He was greeted by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the MEA.

With his appointment, the MEA now has two ministers of state. V K Singh has been Minister of State for External Affairs ever since the Modi government took office in May 2014.

Sources in the MEA said that Akbar’s appointment as the second minister of state would be of much help as the workload at the top echelons in the ministry had substantially increased, after the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs had been merged with it last year.
Akbar is expected to be given the task of overseeing New Delhi’s engagements with Gulf and West Asia, which got an impetus by the prime minister’s visits to United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

He is also likely to pay a key role in managing India’s troubled ties with Pakistan.
Singh was so far looking after Gulf and West Asian affairs in the MEA, apart from standing in for Swaraj in bilateral and multilateral engagements she personally could not embark upon due to her preoccupation.

Swaraj had also assigned Singh to help Indians in distress abroad. She herself had also been extensively using social media to help overseas Indians.