Durga Prasad Dhar

Durga Prasad Dhar (Kashmiri: दुर्गा प्रसाद धर (Devanagari), درگا پرساد دھر (Nastaleeq)) (1918 - 1975) was a prominent Kashmiri politician who was a confidant of Indira Gandhi. He served as Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, and as a minister in the Kashmir and Delhi administrations.

Dhar played a sterling role in assisting the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. He helped the Indian officers interact with the population and collect porters, mules and other kinds of administrative help which made the soldiers' jobs much easier.[1]

He negotiated the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and was a principal architect of India's military intervention in neighboring East Pakistan's civil war, which led to the creation of independent Bangladesh. [2]

The D.P. Dhar Hall at Embassy of India in Moscow is named in his honour.

References

  1. ^ Sen, Maj Gen L. P. (1969). Slender Was the Thread: Kashmir Confrontation 1947-48. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 196. ISBN 0861316924. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=lYHXmx4cOUsC. Retrieved 04 August 2010. 
  2. ^ Time Magazine