US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti praised India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval during a roundtable on ‘Advancing India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET)’
US Envoy Eric Garcetti lauded Doval’s vision for India and spoke of how India’s NSA has not only become a national treasure but an international treasure
"Ajit Doval, a village boy from Uttarakhand, who now has not become only a national treasure but an international treasure, who has had the same vision to come together and say what can we do to change the course of this century, to quote NSA Jake Sullivan, to take us forward," said Eric Garcetti
Ajit Doval was born to Army officer Major GN Doval in a small village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal. He studied at the Ajmer Military School in Ajmer, Rajasthan, and later post-graduated with an Economics degree from Agra University
Ajit Doval went on to crack the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1968 and got posted in the North-Eastern region. He was recruited by the Intelligence Bureau and lived in Pakistan for seven years for spying and espionage activities. Back in India, he led anti-insurgency operations in Punjab
Ajit Doval was actively involved in the termination of 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971 to 1999. He later headed the IB’s operations wing and was the founding Chairman of the Multi Agency Centre and Joint Task Force on Intelligence
In 1988, as part of Operation Black Thunder, Ajit Doval posed as an ISI agent and infiltrated the Golden Temple. His espionage on Khalistani separatists led to vital information about their weapons, maps and hideout locations. He also became an important part of the terror group and helped to sabotage their plan by giving them the wrong advice
For a brief period, Ajit Doval was also trained under MK Narayanan, India’s third NSA. Some key operations of Ajit Doval have been:
- Negotiations during Kandahar plane hijacking in Afghanistan
- Sikkim’s merger with India
One of the most important operations led by Ajit Doval was the 2016 surgical strike on Pakistan in response to the Uri attack on the Army base. On September 29, the Indian Army conducted targeted attacks against suspected militants in PoK. It said that they received critical information about Pakistan’s infiltration plan against Jammu and Kashmir and terror attacks in other states
Ajit Doval was one of the seven people who knew about India's highly classified 2019 Balakot airstrike, including the Indian Navy, Army, Air Force chiefs and PM Narendra Modi. The airstrike followed the Pulwama attack by a Pakistani terror group that killed 40 Indian soldiers. These came to be known as unprecedented air strikes in India’s defence history
In 2014, Ajit Doval was appointed as India's fifth National Security Advisor. Some of his other key operations are:
- Rescue of nurses from ISIL-led Iraq offensive
- Cross-border operation in Myanmar against Nagaland separatist group
- Resolving Doklam standoff with China
Ajit Doval retired from IB in 2015. He co-wrote two reports on ‘Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens’. He was given the personal rank of a Cabinet Minister. President's Police Medal, Kirti Chakra and Police Medal are some of the other prominent awards he has been honoured with