Doval Recalls Sikkim Border Mission That Ended in Chinese Custody
Ajit Doval recalled a Sikkim-era intelligence mission whose team was captured by Chinese forces and later returned, saying he feared his career was over.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has recounted an anxious episode from his early years in intelligence, when a team sent across the Sikkim-China border failed to return on schedule and was later found to be in Chinese custody.
Speaking at the convocation of IIT Roorkee, Doval described himself as a young IPS officer in his twenties, new to the intelligence profession, who was posted to Sikkim while the territory was moving towards integration with India. His duties, he said, included overseeing border intelligence and tracking the movement and activities of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Sikkim became India's 22nd state in 1975. It had earlier been ruled for centuries by the Namgyal dynasty, whose monarchs held the title of Chogyal. After Independence, Sikkim did not immediately join the Indian Union; the India-Sikkim Treaty of 1950 created a protectorate arrangement under which India handled the kingdom's defence, external relations and communications while Sikkim retained control over internal matters.
Doval recalled that an intelligence mission was dispatched to the border area with instructions to return in about eight days. When five, then ten, and eventually around fifteen days passed without word, he grew deeply worried, both professionally and on the human side, over the fate of people whose condition was unknown. There had been no reports of an avalanche or any other explanation, he said.
The uncertainty ended with a telephone call from headquarters. His superior asked whether he had sent people across the border, and then informed him that the team was in Chinese custody. The members had been caught and interrogated, Doval said, and were eventually returned, likely after talks, negotiations or an arrangement. They came back, in his words, shattered and in a shambles.
An inquiry followed. Doval said he was convinced at the time that the episode marked the end of his career and that he would have to begin a new one, viewing the incident as highly unprofessional. The inquiry, however, did not find him at fault. He said the sketches and maps supplied by headquarters contained defects and mistakes, which explained how the situation had unfolded.