‘I Thought My Career Was Over’: Ajit Doval Recalls Sikkim Mission at IIT Roorkee

An intelligence team had failed to return from a border mission. Days passed without word. Then a call from headquarters brought news that the personnel were in Chinese custody.

For Ajit Doval, then a young intelligence officer posted in Sikkim, the episode raised fears for the team’s safety and his own professional future.

“I knew that this was the end of my career. I was still in my twenties, and I had to start a new career,” the National Security Advisor recalled at IIT Roorkee’s convocation on Saturday.

Addressing graduates as chief guest, Doval drew on his early career to reflect on challenges and opportunities, telling the students they were entering a world transformed by technological progress.

The Mission That Went Wrong

Doval said he was a young IPS officer, new to intelligence work, when he was posted in Sikkim during the process of its merger with India. His responsibilities included gathering intelligence on Chinese military activity along the border.

An intelligence team sent on a border mission did not return within the expected period, leaving him deeply worried.

“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 said.

Doval recalled that there had been no reports of an avalanche or another incident that could explain their disappearance. His superior subsequently informed him that the personnel had been captured by Chinese forces.

The team was interrogated and eventually returned. Doval said their release probably followed talks or negotiations, though he did not specify the arrangement.

An inquiry followed, and he feared the episode would end his career. It ultimately cleared him of fault.

“The sketches and the maps that were given to us by the headquarters had some defects and mistakes in them. That is how it happened,” he said.

‘The Luckiest Generation’

Turning to the graduating students, Doval said they had access to opportunities unavailable to generations before them.

“You may not be conscious of the fact that, in the last 1,000 years, you are the luckiest generation, which is going to have so many opportunities,” he said.

Earlier generations, he added, had lived through slavery and constraints that limited their prospects. Changes in India and across the world had opened new possibilities for young people.

“You are coming at an age when technology will be the most important driving factor in any country's or society's growth and progress,” Doval said.

He also praised IIT Roorkee’s legacy and acknowledged the contribution of faculty members and parents to the graduates’ journeys.

Salve’s Warning on Freedom

Senior advocate Harish Salve, who also addressed the convocation, urged students to recognise the uncertainty surrounding the global order and the fragility of democratic freedoms.

“The rules-based order which we all grew up to take for granted is no longer sacrosanct. Will it ever be restored? Time will tell,” he said.

Salve reflected that his generation had assumed the world would continue to operate according to established laws and rules.

“Little did we realise how fragile the virtues of freedom and democracy are,” he said, urging graduates never to take either for granted.

He said the students would carry a significant responsibility in shaping an emerging global order, with their technological education giving them an advantage.

“You are entering a world where a huge responsibility will then lie on your shoulders to rebuild this new world order,” Salve said. “Today's world order will have technology at its core.”

The two-day convocation began on Saturday, with 2,701 students set to receive degrees. Chief of Defence Staff General N.S. Raja Subramani attended as guest of honour. IIT Roorkee Director K.K. Pant was also present.

With inputs from ANI