Ajit Kumar Doval is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and the 5th National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. After assuming the post of National Security Advisor, Ajit also worked as an Indian spy in Pakistan for seven years.
Wiki/Biography
Ajit Doval was born on 20 January 1945 (age 74 years; age as in 2019) in Giri Banelsyun, Pauri Garhwal, United Province, British India (now in Uttarakhand, India). He went to King George Royal Indian Military School (Ajmer Military School), Ajmer, Rajasthan. In 1967, Doval obtained a master’s degree in Economics from Agra University.
He was selected as an IPS officer from Kerala cadre in 1968. He is known to be actively involved in counter-insurgency programs in the states of Punjab and Mizoram. It was during his tenure that the 2016 Indian Line of Control attack and the 2019 Balakot air strike were carried out on 29 September 2016 and 26 February 2019 respectively. Ajit Doval was trained under former IPS officer and India’s third National Security Advisor MK Narayanan.
Third National Security Advisor- MK Narayanan
family and caste
Ajit Doval was born in a Brahmin family to army personnel Gunanad Doval. He is married to Anu Doval and has two sons, Vivek Doval and Shaurya Doval.
Vivek Doval is a Chartered Financial Analyst who is a UK citizen and lives in Singapore. Shaurya Doval is an Indian diplomat.
Ajit Doval and his sons, Vivek Doval (left) and Shaurya Doval (right)
livelihood
Ajit Kumar Doval started his police career in 1968 as an IPS officer of Kerala cadre. He played a key role in the counter-insurgency operations in the states of Punjab and Mizoram. In 1999, Doval played a key role in negotiating the release of passengers from IC-814 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which was then under Taliban control. The hostage crisis ended only after India released three terrorists (Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar).
Taliban terrorists in front of hijacked IC-814 in Kandahar
Notably, Doval has the experience of being involved in aborting all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines between 1971-1999.
Ajit Doval served as the chief of the operations wing of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for almost a decade. In 2004-05, he was appointed to the post of Director of IB. He was the founder-chairman of the Multi-Agency Center (MAC) and the Joint Task Force on Intelligence (JTFI).
Doval is responsible for conquering six of the seven commanderies of Laldenga during the ‘Mizo National Front insurgency’ (MNF), which aimed to establish a sovereign state for the Mizos. He also spent considerable time in Burma and the Chinese region. He helped in the merger of the state of Sikkim into India.
Ajit played an important role in rescuing Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu, who was captured by the ‘Khalistan Liberation Force’ (KLF). The arrest was made in retaliation for the arrest of KLF members who were prime suspects in the attempted assassination of Julio Francis Ribeiro, the then Indian Ambassador to Romania. Doval was involved in ‘Operation Black Thunder’ in Punjab.
Romanian diplomat-Liviu Radu
Doval also spent seven years in Pakistan as an undercover agent for India. He disguised himself as a Muslim in Pakistan and gave important information to India during his stay in Pakistan. In 1990, he was sent to Kashmir and convinced militants like Kuka Parre to become counter-insurgents targeting anti-India terrorists. His work to convince Kuka Parre paved the way for the state elections in Jammu and Kashmir in 1996.
kuka parre
After his tenure in Jammu and Kashmir, he was appointed as Minister in the Indian High Commission in London.
In January 2005 he retired as Director of the Intelligence Bureau. However, even after retirement, he has been actively involved in matters related to India’s national security. He established the Vivekananda International Foundation in December 2009.
Vivekananda International Foundation
Doval was appointed as the 5th National Security Advisor of India on 30 May 2014. He was responsible for the safe return of 46 Indian nurses stranded in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq. He flew to Iraq on 25 June 2014 to speak to high officials of the Iraqi government. The Indian nurses returned on 5 July 2014.
He, along with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, was also responsible for military operations against militants operating from Myanmar.
Ajit Doval (surrounded) with Narendra Modi and Dalbir Singh Suhag
He was appointed as the Chairman of the Strategic Policy Group (SPG) in October 2018. SPG is the first tier of three-tier security in the National Security Council.
award
- Youngest police officer to receive Police Medal
- President Police Medal
- First police officer to receive Kirti Chakra
fact
- Ajit Doval is the youngest police officer to receive the Police Medal. It usually takes a decade and a half for a police officer to qualify for the medal.
- When he was living as a Muslim in Pakistan as an undercover agent, a man with a white beard identified him as a Hindu. Initially Doval did not agree with the man and said that he had converted to Islam. In the end they had to agree with the man because Doval’s ear was pierced. The unidentified man with a white beard later confessed that he himself was a Hindu and had to live like Muslims after all his family members were murdered because of religion. He also took Doval to his home and showed him the idol of Lord Shiva.
- After his retirement in January 2005, he wrote editorials for national newspapers, magazines and also delivered lectures on national security in renowned institutions. He has also spoken at global events.
- In 1988, during Operation Black Thunder, Ajit Doval posed as a rickshaw puller, entered the Golden Temple and returned with vital information. He convinced the militants that he was an ISI operative.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn