Shiv Shankar Menon

The new ambassador to Pak will take up office left vacant for nearly 18 months.

Saying he hopes to help to "normalise relations" between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, India's new ambassador to Pakistan arrived on Monday in eastern Pakistan to take up a post left vacant for nearly 18 months.

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"Certainly, peace is possible between Pakistan and India," Shiv Shankar Menon said when he crossed the border at Wagah near Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.

"My agenda is to normalise relations between Pakistan and India," Menon, a career diplomat, told reporters. Menon was received by Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and other government officials. He was expected to leave later for Islamabad.