Mr. Ashok K. Mehta is a radio and television commentator, and a columnist on defense and security issues. He is a former Major general of Indian Army. After joining the Indian Army in 1957, he was commissioned in the 5th Gorkha Rifles infantry regiment in the same year. During his military service Mr. Mehta undertook special military courses at Royal College of Defense Studies (UK) in 1974 and at Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth (United States) in 1975 and later he went on teaching at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and at Defense Services Staff College, Wellington. He had fought in all major wars India went into, except the Sino Indian War of 1962. And he was also on a peacekeeping mission in Zaire in the year 1962 and in the Indian Peace Keeping Force, Sri Lanka (1988-90) and it was his last assignment in the Indian Army. After his retirement, Mr. Mehta’s services included a radio commentator, a policy analyst on South Asian security affairs, an advisor to the Gorkha Memorial Trust, Kathmandu, a member of the India-Nepal Track2 Dialogue, a consulting editor in the Indian Defense Review, a member of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses and the director of Security and Political Risk Analysis. He is also writer of several books and founder-member of Defense Planning Staff in the Ministry of Defense, India.