Indian - new Commonwealth Secy. General

Commonwealth leaders unanimously appointed an Indian as Secretary General on Saturday, two days after the 53-nation federation suspended Pakistan.

Kamalesh Sharma, currently India's High Commissioner in Britain and a former ambassador to the United Nations, replaces New Zealander McKinnon who is stepping down next year after the end of his second four-year term, the maximum allowed.

Speaking at a Commonwealth summit in Uganda, Sharma said that the Commonwealth's relations with Islamabad were McKinnon's responsibility until he took up his post on April 1.

"Between now and that time there are four months to go ... In any event we have a working mechanism and it is for his (McKinnon's) team or for himself to make observations on issues of this nature," he told a news conference.

The loose federation of former mostly British colonies or territories represents nearly a third of the world's population from some of its poorest to some of its richest, and from some its smallest countries to its largest.

It was holding its biennial summit in Kampala from Friday to Sunday.

Sharma, 67, is the first Secretary General from an Asian Commonwealth country in more than 40 years and comes as India -- the largest member state in the grouping -- prepares to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2010.

On Thursday Commonwealth foreign ministers overcame objections from some members such as Sri Lanka to suspend Pakistan for failing to restore democratic freedoms.