The fifth and current National Security Advisor (NSA) of the Prime Minister of India Ajit Kumar Doval. He is one of the earlier retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the Kerala cadre and a former Indian Intelligence and law enforcement officer. He was born in 1945 in Uttarakhand State, he was also awarded the Kirti Chakra for meritorious service, for military personnel it’s a gallantry award and he is also the youngest police officer in India to receive this award.
India’s surgical strike in September 2016 and Balakoat airstrike in February 2019 across the border of Pakistan, were conducted under the supervision of Doval. He also helped in finishing the Doklam stand-off and in the Northeast, he took decisive measures to tackle insurgency.
In 1968 as an IPS Officer Doval began his police career and in Mizoram and Punjab he was actively involved in anti-insurgency operations. In Kandahar in 1999 from the hijacked IC-814 he played an important role as one of the three negotiators in the release of passengers. Between 1971 and 1999 he successfully terminated at least 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft.
In Pakistan gathering intelligence on active militant groups Doval is said to have spent seven years as an undercover operative. After a one-year stint as a secret agent, for six years in Islamabad, he worked at the Indian High Commission.
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In 1984 to choke Khalistani militancy in ‘Operation Blue Star’ Doval had also played a key role in gathering intelligence. In 1996 for the Jammu and Kashmir elections, to convince troops and hardcore militants, Doval went to Kashmir in 1990 and convinced them and cleared the way for elections.
As an active field Intelligence officer with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Ajit Doval spent a major part of his career. He also has well-known honors, awards, and records to his credit. By taking a strict stance against terrorism and militancy Doval has built a reputation.
In 2009, Doval became the founder and director of Vivekananda International Foundation after his retirement.
In 2014, 46 Indian nurses were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iran. Ajit Doval ensured his release. He went on a top-secret mission and to understand the position on the ground on June 25, 2014, he flew to Iraq and made high-level connections in the Iraq government.
The nurses were brought back to India, On July 5, 2014. Later, along with Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Doval also headed a successful military operation in Myanmar against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland militants operating out of Myanmar.
For five more years Doval was reappointed as National Security Advisor in 2019 and in the second term of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, a Cabinet rank was given to him.
