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D.P. Dhar

D.P. Dhar spent his career moving between two capitals, Srinagar and Moscow, but his biggest legacy was written in Dhaka. He is widely credited as a chief architect of India’s role in creating Bangladesh.

📑 Contents

1Kashmir to 1971
2A Career in Public Service
3Test Yourself
4Legacy

Kashmir to 1971Need to Know

Durga Prasad Dhar, known as D.P. Dhar, was born on 10 May 1918, in Srinagar, into a Kashmiri Pandit family.
He studied at the Tyndale Biscoe School in Srinagar. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and an LLB from the University of Lucknow.
He joined the 1946 Quit Kashmir movement, led by Sheikh Abdullah against Maharaja Hari Singh.
Dhar was India’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union twice: from 1969 to 1971, and again from 1975 until his death.
He negotiated the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, a key diplomatic backdrop to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
As Chairman of India’s Policy Planning Committee, he is widely credited as a chief architect of India’s strategy during the 1971 war.
He also played a significant role in finalising both the 1972 Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation, and the 1972 Simla Agreement with Pakistan.

A Career in Public ServiceGood to Know

In Jammu and Kashmir, Dhar served as Home Secretary, then Deputy Home Minister, under Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah, starting in 1948.
He was a member of the Jammu and Kashmir State Constituent Assembly, from 1951 to 1957, which endorsed the state’s accession to India.
He later served as a Member of the State Assembly, from 1957 to 1967, holding several Cabinet portfolios.
His Policy Planning Committee was a one-man body within the Ministry of External Affairs. He reported directly to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, rather than through the External Affairs Minister.
He was part of a small group of close advisers around Indira Gandhi, later called the “Kashmir Brigade,” which also included P.N. Haksar, T.N. Kaul, P.N. Dhar, and R.N. Kao. This group shaped India’s Bangladesh strategy.
In 1972, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir. That July, he was also appointed Union Minister for Planning.
Dhar represented India at international forums earlier in his career too: the UN Security Council in 1949, and the UN General Assembly‘s Paris session in 1952.

Test Yourself

LegacyGreat to Know

D.P. Dhar died of a heart attack on 12 June 1975, while still serving as Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
A hall at the Embassy of India in Moscow, the D.P. Dhar Hall, is named in his honour.
In 2012, Bangladesh’s President Zillur Rahman posthumously conferred the Liberation War Friendship Honour on Dhar. His son, Vijay Dhar, received it on his behalf, in Dhaka.
The honour recognised his pioneering role in the Indo-Soviet Treaty, in mobilising international support for Bangladesh, and in supporting its Liberation War.

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