Valley volunteer for IB - Calcutta Telegraph

New Delhi, Dec. 13: Dineshwar Sharma, a 1979-batch IPS officer who had volunteered to be in Jammu and Kashmir after the outbreak of militancy, was today appointed the next director of the Intelligence Bureau.

Sharma, now one of the three special directors in the IB, was appointed officer on special duty to incumbent director S. Asif Ibrahim with immediate effect. He will take over from Ibrahim on December 31.

Along with the next IB chief, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also expected to appoint the next head of external spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as the incumbent, Alok Joshi, too retires at the end of the month. Till late this evening, there was no announcement.

The tenure of both the RAW and the IB chiefs is two years.

Sharma, a Kerala-cadre officer is best known for volunteering to be in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s when security agencies were facing major setbacks. "He went there when the mechanisms had virtually broken down," said an IB officer.

Following the Kargil war, Sharma had headed a joint task force on improving the intelligence architecture.

As the country's police chief - the IB director officially represents India's police at all national and international forums - Sharma will face the challenge of India's expanding intelligence structure.

Modi, while speaking at the DGPs' conference in Guwahati recently, had invoked Chanakya to stress the importance of intelligence agencies for any government. Indications are the NDA government wants to redefine the way intelligence agencies function.

Although RAW is the country's external spy agency, the IB has a major responsibility for operations in India's neighbourhood, such as Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. One desk also looks at the eastern theatre that includes China and Myanmar.

Sharma has had a stint in the Northeast, too - a region that shares borders with both China and Myanmar - and is understood to be an expert analyst.

Sources said Sharma's fellow special directors - Ashok Prasad and D.P Sinha, both 1979-batch officers - may also have appointments waiting for them.

Andhra-cadre officer Prasad's name has been doing the rounds as a potential successor to RAW chief Joshi. The other contender for the position of RAW secretary (chief) is a RAW officer, Rajinder Khanna.