Maj gen sachin malik
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PVSM, AVSM, ADC
COAS, 30 Sept 1997 – 30 Sept 2000
Infantry, Sikh Light Infantry
General Ved Prakash Malik assumed charge of the Indian Army, as the 19th Chief of Army Staff, on 30 September 1997. Born on 01 November 1939 at Dera Ismail Khan (present-day Pakistan), he was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry on 07 June 1959. He saw action in the 1962 Indo-China border conflict in the Ladakh sector. He commanded the 10th Sikh LI on the Indo-China border and played an active role in counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland from 1974 to 1977.
His other assignments include Instructor in the Senior Command Wing at the College of Combat from 1977-78, Joint Planning Staff in the Military Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat from 1979-80, Deputy Brigade Commander of an Infantry Brigade from 1980-82, Colonel of an Infantry Division from 1982-83 and Commander of the 162nd Infantry Brigade in Jammu & Kashmir from April 1983 to December 1985, where he earned the Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM).
In 1986 he attended the National Defence College (NDC) in New Delhi. He served as Deput
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General VedPrakash Malik served as 19th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. He has received the AtiVishishtSeva Medal and the ParamVishishtSeva Medal for distinguished service to the Indian Army and to the nation; He was Army Chief during Kargil War.
As Chief of the Army Staff, Gen. Malik had dual responsibility of being an “advisor” to the Government as well as commander of over a one million strong Indian army and managed all its functions to fulfill its national role and assigned missions. As Army Chief with additional responsibility of Chairman, Chief of Staff Committee, he oversaw intensified anti-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir and north east India, management of disputed borders with China and Pakistan and security relations with other nations.
He planned, coordinated and oversaw execution of operation Vijay to successfully defeat Pakistan’s attempted intrusion in Kargil-Siachen sector in 1999. His military career and subsequent membership of the National Security Advisory Board has given him considerable expertise to speak on India’s security challenges.
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[I interviewed General Ved Prakash Malik in New Delhi in August 1998, a few months after India conducted nuclear tests at Pokharan. Gen. Malik, who was born in Dera Ismail Khan, in what is now Pakistan, was the 19th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. The room I interviewed him in had also been used by the Commanders-in-Chief of the pre-Independence Indian Army. The board in the picture below includes the names of Gen. Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Gen. Claude Auchinleck and Gen. Sir George Stewart White, who commanded a sepoy brigade in the Third Anglo-Burmese War, which led to the deposition of King Thebaw, the last king of Burma (as described in The Glass Palace.)It was odd to see this name there, because I was then still working on the book: it was a reminder of the continuities and ruptures of India’s military history, which was actually one of the central themes of the novel.]
AG.: What was exactly the military logic behind the testing at this time. Are there any pressing security reasons?
Gen. V.P. Malik.: Nuclear weapons are n
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