NSA Ajit Doval turns 77: A look back at daring exploits & missions of India’s ‘James Bond’

New Delhi: The National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval turned 77 today. A Kerala cadre IPS officer of the 1968 batch, Ajit Doval is the fifth NSA to Prime Minister and is popularly referred to as the ‘James Bond of India’.

Doval has retired as an IPS officer but his successful missions in highly difficult situations & terrains earned him the sobriquet of James Bond. He spent 7 years as an undercover agent in Pakistan while being a key mind in tackling terror operations including over 15 hijackings of India Airlines spanning over 28 years.

Below are some of his daring exploits:

Undercover agent in Pakistan

Ajit Doval spent about 7 years of his life as an undercover operative in Pakistan. Apparently, in one of the most difficult missions, Doval gathered crucial intelligence on militant groups while staying at Indian High Commission in Islamabad for 6 years while spending 1 year as a secret agent.

Negotiating hostage release from IC-814 flight

The Kandahar hijack was one of the epic threats that the country faced on the security front. After hijacking the plane, the terrorists took the plane to Kandahar in Afghanistan and demanded released of hard-core militants. It was Ajit Doval who negotiated the safe release of passengers.

Countering Punjab insurgency

AJit Doval played a crucial role in the Indian Army’s Operation Blue Star in 1984. He helped plan detailed strategy to secure the Golden Temple and also flush out the Khalistani militants from the premises of the holy place.

In 1988, he reportedly impersonated as rickshaw puller to enter the Golden Temple premises. According to Economic Times, Doval convinced the Khalistani militants holed up inside the Golden Temple that he was a Pakistani operative who had come to their aid and helped them surrender.

Release of 46 Indian nurses from Iraq

ISIS’s reign of terror spread through many middle-east countries, especially in Iraq during 2014. The gun-wielding terrorists invaded large swathes of land and captured key provinces of Iraq. During that time, Doval ensured that 46 Indian nurses trapped in Tikrit, Iraq were rescued by authorities and safely brought back to India.

According to reports, Doval himself went to Iraq in June 2014 and negotiated the release of nurses.

Surgical strikes in Pakistan

Surgical strikes in Pakistani territory is the latest testament of the Indian Army’s valour & daring heroic act. The 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes against Pakistan’s mis-adventurisms under Doval’s tenure as the National Security Advisor. Believed to be the mastermind of surgical strikes, he tactfully devised & formulated ‘offensive defense’ strategy to annihilate & demolish terror launchpads operating from Pakistani soil.