Ajit Doval:- NSA, INDIA
JAMES BOND IN REAL LIFE
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
Birth, Early Life and Education
Ajit Kumar Doval was born on January 20, 1945, in Ghiri
Banelsyun village in Pauri Garhwal in a Garhwali family. His father, Major G.
N. Doval, was an officer in the Indian Army.
Ajit Doval did his schooling at King George's Royal Indian
Military School (now as Ajmer Military School), in Ajmer, Rajasthan. In 1967,
from Agra University, he graduated with a Master's degree in Economics. In
December 2017, Doval was awarded an honorary doctorate in science from Agra
University. In May 2018, he received an honorary doctorate in Literature from Kumaon
University. In November 2018, he received an honorary doctorate in Philosophy
from Amity University.
IPS CAREER
- In
1968, Ajit Doval joined the Indian Police Service and was actively
involved in the anti-insurgency operations in Punjab and Mizoram. Mizoram National Front was breaking India’s back
with insurgency. Doval have infiltrated the underground Mizo National
Front, weaned away half a dozen of its top commanders and all but broke
the back of the MNF.
- He was titled the 'Indian James
Bond'. He has also supervised anti Naxal security operations.
- In 1999, Ajit Doval was amongst the three negotiators who negotiated the release of passengers from IC-814 in Kandahar. From 1971 to 1993, India's sole domestic airline was hijacked 16 times, and from 1971 to 1999. he was involved in the termination of 15 hijackings of the Indian Airlines aircraft.
- REF: BOOK “IA's Terror Trail—Anil Sharma”
Ajit Doval headed Intelligence Bureau's (IB) operations wing
for more than a decade. He was also the founding Chairman of the MAC
(Multi-Agency Circle) and JTFI (Joint Task Force on Intelligence).
INTELLIGENCE CAREER
Ajit Doval won over six of Lal denga’s seven
commanders during the Mizo National Front insurgency. Doval was underground for several
years in the Arakan in Burma and inside Chinese territory. From there he went to Sikkim and played an
important role during the merger of the state with India. That part I
will cover some other time. He also rescued Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu. In
1988, Doval was inside the Golden Temple, Amritsar to collect critical
information before Operation Black Thunder.
Post Retirement
In January 2005, Ajit Doval retired as the Director of the
Intelligence Bureau (IB). In December 2009, he became the founding Director of
Vivekananda International Foundation. Doval has actively written editorial
pieces for leading newspapers and journals, has delivered lectures at
government and non-government institutions, think tanks, etc. in India and
abroad over national security in India, its challenges and foreign
policies.
In 2009 and 2011, Ajit Doval has co-written two reports over
'Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens'.
NSA
CAREER
After his retirement, Doval was appointed as India's fifth
National Security Advisor on May 30, 2014.
On June 25, 2014, Ajit Doval flew to Iraq on a top-secret
mission and made high-level meetings with the Government of Iraq. On July 5,
after Doval's meeting, ISIL militants handed all the 46 Indian nurses, trapped
in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq, to Kurdish authorities at Erbil city. A
specially arranged Air India aircraft brought the nurses back to Kochi,
India.
As per Indian officials, Ajit Doval planned a cross border
military operation with Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag against the
Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) operating out of Myanmar.
Indian side claims that the operation was successful and 20-38 separatists were
killed in the operation carried out by India. However, the Government of
Myanmar denied such claims and stated that the Indian operation against NSCN-K
took place entirely on the Indian side of the border. In addition to this,
NSCN-K also denied India's claim.
He is popular for the doctrinal shift in Indian national
security policy in relation to Pakistan. The Indian National Security policy
changed from purely Defensive to Defensive Offensive to Double Squeeze
Strategy. As per reports, the 2016 Indian Strikes in Pakistan-controlled
Kashmir were his brainchild.
He has also resolved Doklam Standoff through his diplomatic
relations along with the then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and Indian
Ambassador to China Vijay Keshav Gokhale.
In October 2018, Ajit Doval was appointed as the Chairman of
the SPG (Strategic Policy Group).
On February 27, 2019, tension rose between India and
Pakistan after the IAF airstrike in Pakistan and later PDF retaliatory
airstrike in India and capture of Indian pilot Abi Nandan Vardaman by the
military of Pakistan. The Pilot was released by the Pakistani Military as a
gesture of peace and to de-escalate the tensions between the two countries. As
per Indian officials, when the Indian pilot was in the custody of Pakistan,
Ajit Doval held talks with the US Secretary of State and National Security
Advisor to secure the release of the Indian pilot.
On June 3, 2019, Ajit Doval was reappointed as NSA for the
next 5 years. On May 15, 2020, the Myanmar military handed a group of 22
insurgents who were active in Northeast states of India to the Government of
India in a special plane.
Ajit Doval is also known to have a hand in Sri Lanka’s last
Presidential election, as well as, in the just concluded Bangladesh election.
TWO EYES
Nationalist: He has been strict with anti-national elements
of all hues -major economic offenders, terror networks; fundamentalists and so
on. No wonder, Union government has initiated a big drive against anti
nationals of all hues . In short, nation comes first for him.
India Centric in international matters: He believes that in
order to survive; India must take care of its own strategic needs (economic and
security); and thus, there are no enemies and foes for it. In short, India
centric doctrine must be accepted and applied.
1- Ajit Doval was the youngest police officer to receive a
Police Medal for his meritorious service. He received an award after completing
6 years of his service in the police.
2- Ajit Doval was awarded the President's, Police
Medal.
3- In
1998, he was conferred with the highest gallantry award-- Kirti Chakra. He was
the first police officer to receive this award, which was earlier given as a
military honour.
He must be having many more unknown exploits, which we will know once he writes a memoir after full retirement. He has shown West it's place in the world. His famous statement:-" IF THEY DO ANOTHER MUMBAI, THEY LOOSE BALOCHISTAN."
JAI SHREE RAM.
REFERENCES:- LINKS BELOW.
[1] Who
is Ajit Doval, NSA Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval
[2] NSA Ajit Doval approves 600 phones for troops in Kashmir to
connect with family
[3] Pakistan under biggest pressure from anti-terror watchdog FATF,
says Ajit Doval at NIA meet
[4] NSA Ajit Doval in U.S.; to meet Secretary of State and other
top officials
Again another crisp offering from Majumdar. His painstaking research and presentation of his findings gives one a Readers Digest view of his subject.
ReplyDeleteKeep on Sarasij , will look forward to your next delivery. pl
Y...
Thanks, Friend.
DeleteWonderful presentation of India’s present Super Cop. What a chequered career of a gallant police officer. No wonder he is labelled as James Bond of India
ReplyDeleteThanks. You are right.
Delete