Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 20: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has recalled a tense intelligence mission in Sikkim during its merger with India in 1975, revealing how the disappearance of a team on a border assignment left him worried about their safety and fearing the end of his career.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony of IIT Roorkee on Saturday, Doval recounted his experience as a young intelligence officer in his 20s, when he was posted in Sikkim to oversee border areas and monitor the movement of Chinese troops.

“I was a young IPS officer, new to the intelligence profession. I was in my 20s, and I was posted as in charge of intelligence in Sikkim. That was not a part of India at that time. It was becoming part of India. I was part of that process where the merger was taking place,” he said.

Doval said an intelligence team sent on a border mission failed to return within the expected eight days. With no communication from the team and no reports of an avalanche or other incident, he grew increasingly concerned about the fate of its members.

“For me, it was a matter of very great concern, not only professionally but also on the human side, that so many people—we don't know whether they are dead or alive, and what has happened to them,” he recalled.

His concerns deepened when he received a call from headquarters informing him that the team had been taken into Chinese custody.

Doval said the Chinese had interrogated the team before its members were eventually returned following discussions or negotiations. He said he believed an agreement may have been reached to secure their release.

Following the incident, an inquiry was initiated, leaving the young officer convinced that his career was over.

“And an inquiry was started. I knew that this was the end of my career,” Doval recalled, adding that he was still in his twenties and believed he might have to begin a new career.
However, the inquiry eventually cleared him of wrongdoing.

“I wasn't found at fault. Probably, I had done everything right,” he said.

Doval explained that defects and errors in the sketches and maps supplied by headquarters had contributed to the incident.

The recollection offered a glimpse into Doval's early intelligence career and the challenges he faced while working in Sikkim during a significant period in India's history.