Handled The Taliban, Survived Bombings, Rescued Uzma: JP Singh, 'The Diplomat', Is In Tel Aviv

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Last Updated:June 19, 2025, 20:22 IST

Under IFS officer JP Singh's command in Israel, India is evacuating students and citizens while continuing with diplomatic and strategic decisions in the middle of missile fire

Bombs in Kabul, missiles in Tel Aviv, and complexities in Islamabad – when diplomacy demands nerves of steel, India turns to one man. JP Singh, a 2002-batch IFS officer currently at the helm in Tel Aviv, is navigating the ongoing conflict as India’s Ambassador to Israel.

Under his command in Israel, India is steering evacuations of its students and citizens while also continuing with diplomatic and strategic decisions in the middle of all the missile fire. While the US is reportedly preparing to evacuate some of its embassy personnel as the conflict escalates, the Indian mission is actively working to assist all citizens in leaving the area.

Known for his skills and composure while operating in high-risk zones, JP Singh has now become India’s go-to crisis manager on foreign soil. His calm under fire first came into public view during the high-profile Uzma Ahmed rescue case in Pakistan, a mission so gripping that it inspired the recent OTT release – ‘The Diplomat’ – in which John Abraham plays a character based on him.

Singh has been appointed the 10th ambassador of India to Israel, a position that was held by Shivshankar Menon, who later became the national security adviser (NSA) for then prime minister Manmohan Singh. He was appointed Indian ambassador in Tel Aviv earlier this year after serving as the chief of staff to the external affairs minister (EAM) for a year.

NO STRANGER TO CONFLICT

Singh is often addressed by his peers as the “battle-hardened" diplomat. During his stint in the Indian mission in Kabul, he witnessed multiple security situations including an attack at the embassy. There were, however, no fatalities in that incident.

He was posted in Kabul as the first secretary between 2008 and 2012, the period when the Afghan capital was going through several attacks by the Taliban. Two years later, he was appointed as the deputy high commissioner in Islamabad where he served from 2014 to 2019. Following his stint as the consul general in Istanbul and in the ministry of external affairs (MEA), he was sent to Israel this year.

According to a senior IFS officer, Singh is among the senior diplomats who initiated dialogue with the Taliban and met their foreign minister after they took over Kabul. This was the first official interaction between India and the government led by the Taliban in Kabul.

A GLORIOUS CINEMATIC INTERPRETATION

Some of Singh’s diplomatic manoeuvring became the subject of a gripping cinematic interpretation – The Diplomat (2025), a movie that offers a slick yet intense look into the life of an officer who often operates in the eye of the storm and on foreign soil.

The film does not only glorify him, but also attempts to decode the method behind his composure, the mind behind the missions, and also the meaning of modern-day Indian diplomacy.

In Kabul, he played another crucial behind-the-scenes role in cementing India’s outreach to key stakeholders during the fragile phase before and after the Taliban’s return. In Islamabad, too, his tenure was marked by astute negotiation, deep intelligence and strategic liaison, while focusing on careful diplomatic messaging during a particularly tense phase in Indo-Pakistan relations.

Now, as tensions flare in Israel, Singh has once again stepped up. However, it is more of a field job for him and about ensuring the safety and evacuation of Indian citizens and students caught in the crossfire.

Madhuparna Das

Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa...Read More

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