NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen a daring former spy with years of experience in dealing with Pakistan as his national security adviser, a move officials say signals a more muscular approach to New Delhi's traditional enemy, Indian media reported on Sunday.
The choice of Ajit Doval, alongside former army chief General VK Singh as a union minister for the northeast region, underscores plans to revamp national security that Modi says became weak under the outgoing government. The two top-level appointments, reporting directly to Modi, point to a desire to address what are arguably India's two most pressing external security concerns.
Doval, a highly decorated officer renowned for his role in dangerous counter-insurgency missions, has long advocated tough action against militant groups, although operations he has been involved in suggest a level of pragmatism. In the 1980s, he smuggled himself into the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar from where Sikh militants were later flushed out, and he infiltrated a powerful guerrilla group fighting for independence from India in the northeastern state of Mizoram.
The group ultimately signed a peace accord. Doval was also on the ground in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when an Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu was hijacked by militants in 1999. The crisis was resolved when top militants were freed in exchange for hostages. "Doval is an out-of-the-box thinker," said an Intelligence Bureau officer with long years of service in Indian hotspots. "Expect him to shake things up."
The official, who did not want to be named, said he expected the new security team to push for a rapid expansion of border infrastructure and a streamlining of intelligence services, which still function in isolation and often impede one other. Singh has declared his priority is to develop the northeast in order to narrow the gap with Chinese investment in roads and railways on its side of the frontier.
India is also creating a new mountain corps and beefing up border defences, although that initiative has stalled. A secure India is a long-standing goal of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the new prime minister himself wants strong borders so the country can focus fully on giving economic growth a much-needed boost. He won the election in May in a landslide victory largely on economic pledges that India's 1.2 billion people hope will secure jobs and raise living standards.
But with most foreign troops withdrawing from Afghanistan by the end of this year, India is concerned that militants fighting there will turn their sights towards Kashmir. Doval – 69 – formerly head of the Intelligence Bureau domestic spy agency, will be the National Security Adviser, only the second officer from the intelligence community to hold the post. By contrast, predecessor Shiv Shankar Menon is a member of the elite Indian Foreign Service – an expert on China and nuclear security known for his formidable intellect.
“Terrorism continues to be our main concern and we have to handle it in a holistic manner," said AS Dulat, a former head of the Research and Analysis Wing, which is charged with external intelligence gathering. "At the end of the day, war is not an option," he said. "The one thing the new government will focus on is internal security, that's what worries them most. You don't want another Mumbai, you don't have a lot of good options if it happens," said an official at the Home Ministry.
Pakistan said it remained committed to improving ties with India and that it had got off to a good start. "Whoever is appointed by Modi in his national security team is his own prerogative, and we will certainly not interfere in that," said Tariq Azeem, a senior official in Nawaz Sharif's team. "Pakistan will carry on with the determination shown by Nawaz Sharif to build good relations with India. The meeting in Delhi was cordial and friendly and we hope to build on that," he told local media.
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