Ajit Doval’s SCO Exit: India’s ‘Super Spy’ Stands Firm Over Pakistan Map

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in China on Saturday for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss strengthening bilateral ties amid rising US-India trade tensions.

The visit recalls a defining moment in 2020, when India’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, made global headlines for his uncompromising stance on India’s territorial integrity.

The Walkout That Made Headlines
During a virtual SCO meeting in September 2020, Pakistan’s representative, Dr. Moeed Yusuf, displayed a political map claiming Jammu and Kashmir and Junagadh—territories integral to India. This violated SCO rules forbidding bilateral disputes in multilateral forums.

Despite repeated efforts by Russia, then-chair of the meeting, to get Pakistan to remove the map, no action was taken. In protest, Doval walked out, sending a clear message: India would not tolerate challenges to its sovereignty. Russia later confirmed it did not support Pakistan’s move, and Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, praised Doval for his decisive action.

The Spy Behind the Curtain
Ajit Doval’s career reads like a spy thriller. Between 1971 and 1978, he went undercover in Pakistan posing as a Muslim cleric during the India-Pakistan war, providing vital intelligence.

Domestically, he negotiated peace with Mizo rebels (leading to the 1986 Mizo Peace Accord) and played key roles in Operation Black Thunder (1988), the Kandahar hijacking negotiations (1999), the release of 46 Indian nurses from ISIS (2014), and the 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control.

The SCO walkout exemplifies the steadfast and strategic approach that has defined Doval’s decades-long career in Indian intelligence and national security.