Raminder Singh Jassal was an Indian diplomat who served as India's Ambassador to Israel, the United States, and Turkey. He also served as India's spokesman during the 1999

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

between India and Pakistan.

Early career

Jassal joined the

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a diplomatic service and a Central Civil Services, central civil service of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India under the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External A ...

in 1976 after graduating from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. His first assignment was at the Embassy of India in Moscow where he learned and became fluent in Russian. He was First Secretary at Warsaw between 1981 and 1984 serving for a period as

Charge d’affaires Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * Charge (David Ford album), ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * Charge (Machel Montano album), ''Charge'' (Ma ...

. He served in various roles such as Deputy Secretary in the Americas Division in the Ministry of External Affairs between 1985 and 1988, Political Counselor at the

Embassy of India, Washington, D.C. The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of India to the United States. It is headed by the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. India also has consulates-general in Atlanta, Chic ...

and between 1991 and 1995 he served as Political Counselor at the Embassy of India in Moscow. In 1995 he served briefly as Director (West Africa, North Africa) in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and later as Joint Secretary (Central Asia) during 1996–1997, and later Joint Secretary (Planning & Coordination) in the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

where he served between 1997 and 1999.

Spokesperson and ambassador

He was then named to be the official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs where he served with distinction from 1999 to 2001. In that capacity he also handled media arrangements for all official foreign visits of the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

and all incoming state and official visits including those of

President Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the att ...

to India in March 2000 and Prime Minister Vajpayee to Washington D.C. in September, 2000. He served as India's Ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2004. During this period relations between India and Israel progressed. As Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'affaires in Washington, D.C., Jassal was one of the lead negotiators of the civil nuclear deal between the United States and India. He took up his position as India's Ambassador in Ankara in 2008. In 2009, he was diagnosed with a

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. On 11 March 2011, while undergoing treatment in a Turkish hospital in Ankara, he died of complications from a round of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. The Turkish government flew Jassal's remains in a military aircraft back to New Delhi. Ambassador Jassal was married to Professor Smita Tewari Jassal, a professor at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jassal, Raminder 2011 deaths Ambassadors of India to Israel Ambassadors of India to the United States Ambassadors of India to Turkey Delhi University alumni Year of birth missing