One of India’s biggest spies, Ajit Doval lived undercover in Pakistan for six years and delayed the nuclear programme of Pakistan by 15 years.
Updated: August 26, 2025 11:58 PM IST
How Ajit Doval delayed Pakistan’s nuclear programme by 15 years: The National Security Advisor of India, Ajit Doval, who is often called India’s ‘James Bond’ and ‘Supercop,’ due to his critically important covert operations done for India, carried out one of his most dangerous missions in the 1980s by spying on Pakistan’s secret nuclear program. According to D. Devdutt’s book Ajit Doval – On a Mission, when Ajit Doval was posted in Pakistan’s Islamabad at a time when Pakistan was aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons after India’s 1974 nuclear test with China’s support.
How Ajit Doval exposed Pakistan’s nuclear programme?
The book mentions that the target of Ajit Doval was the Khan Research Center in Kahuta, Pakistan, a high-security nuclear facility disguised within a village. In order to gather intelligence from Kahuta, Doval disguised himself as a beggar and roamed around the city for months as part of Operation Kahuta. After months of hard work, his breakthrough came when he collected hair samples from a local barber shop frequented by Pakistani scientists.
Story highlights:
- India’s present NSA Ajit Doval is said to have delayed the nuclear programme of Pakistan by 15 years.
- Ajit Doval was deployed in Pakistan as a spy.
- The main target of Ajit Doval was the Khan Research Center in Kahuta, Pakistan.
- The Khan Research Center in Kahuta, Pakistan is infamous for India’s nuclear projects.
How a strand of Hair helped Ajit Doval uncover Pakistan’s nuclear plans?
The tests that were conducted on the hair samples of the Pakistani scientists confirmed traces of uranium and radiation, proving Pakistan’s nuclear activity, which was a massive break through for India. As a result of Doval’s critical operation and the critical evidence collected, India exposed Islamabad’s secret program, thus delaying its nuclear progress by nearly 15 years.
During his journey of being India’s spy, Ajit Doval lived undercover in Pakistan for six years, constantly risking capture and death, making this one of his most daring missions and helping India in major operations against Pakistan.
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