Ashok K. Mehta is a former

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

, as well as a radio and television commentator and a columnist on defence and security issues. He was a founding member of the Defence Planning Staff in the Indian Ministry of Defence. He is also the elder brother of the renowned journalist and editor,

Vinod Mehta Vinod Mehta (31 May 1942 – 8 March 2015) was an Indian journalist, editor and political commentator. He was also the founder editor-in-chief of ''Outlook (Indian magazine), Outlook'' from 1995 to 2012 and had been editor of publications such a ...

. Ashok Mehta is married to journalist Aditi Phadnis. Maj. Gen. Mehta is an alumnus of the

Rashtriya Indian Military College The Rashtriya Indian Military College (abbreviated RIMC; formerly known as Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College) is a military school for boys and girls situated in Doon Valley, Dehradun in India. The RIMC is a feeder institution for ...

(RIMC), Dehradun, an Indian military prep school formerly known as the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College.

Military career

Mehta joined the Indian Army in 1957 and was commissioned in the

5th Gorkha Rifles 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force), also abbreviated as 5 GR(FF) is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army comprising Gurkha soldiers of Nepalese origin. It was formed in 1858 as part of the British Indian Army. The regiment's battalions serve ...

infantry regiment the same year. Since then, he fought in almost all of the major wars India went into, with the exception of the

Sino-Indian War The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...

of 1962, during which time he was on a peacekeeping mission in

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. He undertook special military courses at the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

in the United Kingdom in 1974 and at the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

in the United States in 1975. He taught at the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

in Dehradun and at the

Defence Services Staff College , motto_lang = sa , mottoeng = ''To War with Wisdom'' , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'', Deolali) , type = Defence Service Training Institute , affiliation = , endowment = , administrative_staff = , faculty = , presi ...

in Wellington, Tamil Nadu. Mehta's last assignment in the Indian Army was as Maj. Gen. Harkirat Singh's successor to the position of General Officer Commanding in the

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan ...

in Sri Lanka from 1988 to 1990. He took a premature retirement in 1991.

Post-retirement

Following his retirement, he began serving as a regular radio and television commentator. He also began acting as a policy analyst and columnist on South Asian security affairs. He is an advisor to the Gurkha Memorial Trust and a member of the India-Nepal Track 2 Dialogue. He has also been a consulting editor in the

Indian Defence Review Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, a member of the

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) (formerly known as: Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)), New Delhi, is India's foremost think tank for advanced research in international relations, espec ...

, and the director of Security and Political Risk Analysis.

Publications

Mehta is the author of several books: *''War Despatches: Operation Iraqi Freedom'' *''The Maoist Insurgency in Nepal and the Royal Nepal Army'' *''Operation Parakram: The Military Standoff of 2002''

References

External links

Tackling the Tigers
Major general Mehta's speech at a symposium on low intensity conflicts (1999), about

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Ashok K. Indian generals Living people People of the Indian Peace Keeping Force Year of birth missing (living people) Indian Military Academy alumni

Military career

Post-retirement

Publications

See also

References

External links