Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Kamal Davar is a retired Indian

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

and security expert who served as the first

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

and deputy chief of the Integrated Defense Staff.

Early life and education

Davar is the son of veteran freedom fighter and

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

leader, Dr. M.C. Davar, a pacifist who fought to prevent the partition of India. Kamal Davar was an alumnus of the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

, Khadakvasala, and also holds an MSc in defense studies from

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

security studies __NOTOC__ Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...

from

Chaudhary Charan Singh University Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCS University), formerly Meerut University, is a public state university located in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university was established in 1965. It was later renamed to its current name after Chaudh ...

, Meerut.

Military career

Davar was commissioned into the

7th Light Cavalry The 7th Light Cavalry, previously the 28th Light Cavalry, was a regular army cavalry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1784 under the East India Company. The regiment later saw service on the North West Frontier and in World ...

Regiment of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. As a young officer, Davar participated in the 1965 India-Pakistan War, during which he was wounded in action in the Lahore sector. Subsequently, he also participated in active operations during the 1971

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. He eventually rose to command the 86th Armoured Regiment of the

and also to serve on the Indian Military Training Team in Iraq. As a brigadier, he commanded the spearhead armored brigade of the Army and subsequently was an instructor at the College of Combat (now the Army War College). As a major general, Davar was sent as the first armored corps officer to command three divisions responsible for the entire Ladakh sector. After two eventful years, he was posted as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

at the corps headquarters in

Nagrota Nagrota is a town located in the Jammu district of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It is located on National highway 44 between Jammu city and Udhampur. It is situated on the bank of River Tawi. Nagrota along with Kashmiri Pandit Migrant town ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

, during the height of counter-insurgency operations. He subsequently rose to become

general officer commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

an army

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, in the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

. After completion of command as GOC of a corps, he was appointed director-general, Mechanized Forces, at Army Headquarters in 2001. On March 5, 2002, the government announced Davar's appointment as the first chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defense Staff. As the first chief of the DIA, he is reputed to have taken many pioneering intelligence initiatives both at home and abroad. General Davar has also served as the

Colonel of the Regiment Colonel (Col) is a rank of the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking below Brigadier (United Kingdom), brigadier, and above Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom), lieutenant colonel. British colonels are not usually field commanders; typically ...

of the 86 Armored Regiment, as well as that of the 74th Armoured Regiment.

Environmentalism

Kamal Davar promoted the successful campaign to plant lakhs of trees in Punjab and clean the Harike Bird Sanctuary in Punjab. Following his retirement, he continued to promote environmental issues, encouraging local army units and schools to regularly plant trees. He is also an active and leading member of SPOKE (the Society for the Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs) and was nominated as its president.

Post retirement activities

Post-retirement, Davar has written regularly for the national media and military journals on security, counter-terrorism, and intelligence issues. He has also spoken at various institutions, both in India and abroad, on security-related and geo-political subjects. Currently, he is also the coordinator of the Strategic Studies Cell, a think tank based in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, India. Gen. Davar is also a member of the international High Level Military Group (HLMG), which monitors Israeli military operations in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, and along the

Israel-Lebanon border The Blue Line is a demarcation line dividing Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights. It was published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon. It has been described a ...

. Davar has been involved with Track II dialogues between India and Pakistan. Davar was recently nominated as the president of a new think tank established in the capital called the Delhi Forum for Strategic Studies (DFFSS). Davar has published books on the Pakistani state and Indian history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davar, Kamal Indian generals Living people Chaudhary Charan Singh University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)