02nd September 2019 17:03:36 Hours
Major General (Retd) Ashok K. Mehta, one of the experts on regional defence and security issues and now an Adviser on South Asian Security Affairs on the sidelines of the just-concluded ‘Colombo Defence Seminar - 2019’ (CDS) called on the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva at the BMICH on Thursday (29) and exchanged a couple of views on matters of security concern.
Major General (Retd) Ashok K. Mehta, a regular attendee in the ‘Colombo Defence Seminar’ sessions in the past few years who was also a founder member of the Defence Planning Staff in the Indian Ministry of Defence was the General Officer Commanding in the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka during 1988 - 1990.
During his brief interaction, the retired Senior Military Officer of the Indian Army highlighted the significance of regional cooperation and the need to collectively face security challenges, identical to what Sri Lanka experienced on Easter Sunday. He also praised the Sri Lanka Army for its excellent arrangements, related to the conduct of CDS sessions and topical subjects.
Towards the end of the cordial meeting, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva presented a memento to the visiting intellectual who still continues to serve as a radio and television commentator and also as a consulting editor in the Indian Defence Review magazine.
Here follows a brief profile of Major General (Retd) Ashok K Mehta;
Ashok K. Mehta is a former Major general of the Indian Army, and a radio and television commentator, and a columnist on defence and security issues. He was founder-member of the Defence Planning Staff in the Ministry of Defence, India. He is also the elder brother of the renowned journalist and editor. Maj Gen Mehta is an alumnus of the prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun, an Indian Military prep school, which was formerly known as the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College.
Mehta joined the Indian Army in 1957, and was commissioned in the 5th Gorkha Rifles infantry regiment in the same year. Since then, he fought in all the major wars India went into, except in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, as he was on a peacekeeping mission in Zaire at the time.
He undertook special military courses at Royal College of Defence Studies (UK) in 1974 and at Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth (United States) in 1975. He taught at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Tamil Nadu.Mehta's last assignment in the Indian Army was as the General Officer Commanding, in the Indian Peace Keeping Force, Sri Lanka (1988-90), after Major general Harkirat Singh.He took a premature retirement in 1991.
After the retirement, he serves as a regular radio and television commentator, and a policy analyst/columnist on South Asian security affairs. Major general Mehta is an Advisor to the Gurkha Memorial Trust, Kathmandu, and Member of the India-Nepal Track 2 Dialogue. He has also been a consulting editor in the Indian Defence Review, a member of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the director of Security and Political Risk Analysis. bridge media | Nike
