Among the names in a panel sent to the Prime Minister's Office, are India's High Commissioner to Australia G Parthasarathi, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs Nareshwar Dayal and High Commissioner to Mauritius Manilal Tripathi.

All three secretary-level diplomats have dealt with Pakistan in their careers, but Parthasarathi is believed to be the front-runner.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee is said to be taking considerable interest in the appointment, and wants an ``active and dynamic'' diplomat as a replacement for Chandra, someone who will take ``firm charge'' of the relationship with Pakistan.

Vajpayee is said to be unhappy with the manner in which India's strategy vis-a-vis Pakistan is being handled, and believes the mission inIslamabad is adopting a casual approach. Diplomats remain holed up in the security of the mission and have not cared to venture out to spread the Indian word on issues, even in big cities like Karachi. The disenchantment, it is believed, is the reason for the current shake-up in Islamabad. Meanwhile, Chandra has completed his three-year posting there.

Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, who wields enormous influence in the Ministry of External Affairs, partly because he was once a diplomat, will be Chandra's immediate superior as National Security advisor.

Both Parthasarathi and Tripathi have served as Consul-Generals in Karachi, while Dayal has held the key post as joint secretary (India, Pakistan, Iran) in the past.

Parthasarathi has held several other crucial appointments: He was the foreign office spokesman in the early years of India's peace-keeping experiment in Sri Lanka in the mid-1980s, where he caught the eye of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was moved as information advisor to the PMO,where he wielded considerable power. After Gandhi's death in 1991, Parthasarathi reverted to being a lower-profile diplomat. He was to retire by the middle of this year, but received a fresh lease of life with the Pay Commission order on increasing the retirement age.

Meanwhile, India's number two man in Pakistan is also being replaced. Sharad Sabharwal, beaten up by Pakistani security forces earlier this year, is making way for Sudhir Vyas, currently Joint Secretary (North) in the Ministry, in charge of Nepal and Bhutan. Further, Special Secretary in the Ministry, A S Kalha, will take charge as Secretary (West), in place of Lalit Mansingh, posted a couple of months ago as High Commissioner to London. Kalha worked with Brajesh Mishra when the latter was the Charge d'Affaires in Beijing in the mid-1970s.