Ajit Doval Birthday: The Surgical Strike 'Mastermind' who spent 7 years in Pakistan as undercover

India's fifth and current NSA (National Security Advisor) to the Prime Minister of India, Ajit Doval completes 77 years on Thursday (January 20). He was born in the year 1945 in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. Often called the "James Bond of India", the patriot has spent 40 years of his life in oblivion for the sake of the country's defence. Doval is 1968-batch Indian Police Service (IPS- retired) officer.

He joined the service in the Kerala cadre as the Kottayam ASP. He had an impressive career in the Intelligence Bureau, where he served as the director of the IB from 2004-05.

He cleverly managed to get 6 out of 7 commanders of the Mizo National Front to his side. MNF was notorious for spreading insurgency in Mizoram in 1980 and this move broke their back. Thereafter, peace was established in Mizoram.

In 1990, Ajit Doval went to Kashmir and managed to persuade infamous militant Mohammad Yusuf Parray, better known as Kuka Parray, and his troops for becoming counter-insurgents. This new development was instrumental in clearing the way for Jammu and Kashmir elections in 1996.

Ajit Doval took his career as a field officer seriously and went to great lengths to do whatever it took to undertake his task. Doval spent 7 years in Pakistan while working for the Indian intelligence agency RAW in the guise of a Muslim. He mastered Urdu and is an expert on Pakistani history, culture and politics. This helped him remain undercover in Pakistan for over 7 years, undertaking various tasks at considerable risk to his life.

Doval also played a key role in the release of 46 Indian nurses who were trapped in Tikrit hospital, Iraq. On June 25, Doval flew to Iraq as a part of a top-secret mission, made contacts with high-level people and bureaucrats in the Iraqi government and convinced the ISIS militants to handover the nurses safely to the authorities at Erbil City.

The 80s saw the Khalistan militancy peak in Punjab, and Ajit Doval was an active field agent working to infiltrate militant groups operating there. In the run-up to Operation Black Thunder, Doval worked as a rickshaw puller in the Golden Temple area and subsequently made contact with the militants holed up inside the Golden Temple, posing as a Pakistani ISI agent, who was stationed there to support them.

In 1999, Indian Airlines IC 814 was hijacked to Kandahar. Although India's capitulation to the hijacker's demands was a political decision and subsequently criticised, it was Ajit Doval's deft handling of the situation and negotiation with the hijackers that prevented further loss of life and damage to the aircraft