On 26 February 2004 Major General Ashok K. Mehta, Indian Army (retd.) gave a talk on "the Maoist Uprising in Nepal: Trends and Implications".
Commissioned into the Gorkha Rifles regiment of the Indian Army in 1957, General Mehta has had a distinguished military career, including an appointment of Divisional Commander of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka (1988-90). Since retiring from the Army, he has become a well known policy analyst and commentator on South Asian security affairs, with considerable experience of Nepal. He is an Advisor on His Majesty's Gurkha Memorial Trust, Kathmandu, and Member of the India-Nepal Track 2 Dialogue. He has also walked extensively in Nepal. In December 2003, his first book, "War Despatches: Operation Iraqi Freedom", was published.
