Col. (Retd.) Ved Prakash, FRGS, PSC, was commissioned into the famed SIKH Regiment of the Indian Army in 1957. From the Dehradoon Military Academy, he was posted to 3 SIKH, thence actively engaged in the Phizo-led Naga rebellion, then at its apogee! Thus he was blooded into the battle, leading his platoon against the brave Nagas. His second posting in the North-East was as the Commandant, 18, Assam Rifles, then operating against the Mizo insurgency ravaging the eponimous Hills. Yet again, as an happenstance, the Laldenga-led Mizo insurgency was at its virulent worst. The author had three tenures in Jammu and Kashmir, including two extended ones in the high altitude areas of Ladakh snow desert. Luckily, he got a chance to visit the Karakoram Pass in his first tenure in Ladakh. He has authored four books so far: The Samba Spy Scandal (1998); The Indian Army in Sri Lanka (2001); Five Volume book, Encyclopaedia of North-East India (2007) and Five-Volume book, Encyclopaedia of Terrorism in the world (2011). He took part in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, India fought against its neighbours. Let it be said here that all infantry officers of his vintage fought these wars, unless some got to manage peace postings through 'contacts' ! His three tenures in the North-East enabled him to produce the magnum opus on the area, for which he was deservedly rewarded with the FRGS by the Royal Geographical Society London.
