J.N. Dixit

J.N. Dixit (born January 8, 1936, Madras [now Chennai], India—died January 3, 2005, New Delhi, India) was a diplomat who served as India’s national security adviser and as the Indian envoy to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Dixit was the son of a writer and a Sanskrit scholar. After earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, economics, and political science from Delhi College, he completed a master’s degree in international law and international relations from Delhi University as well as some studies toward a doctoral degree at the Indian School of International Studies. He was accepted into the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1958 and served in different capacities in India’s embassies in Mexico, Chile, Bhutan, Japan, and Austria.

Dixit became a key player in Indian diplomacy during the 1960s and ’70s. He was involved in India’s negotiations with China from 1961 to 1963, a period that included a brief war between the two countries that began in October 1962. Dixit also participated in talks with Pakistan between 1969 and 1972 over the disputed region of Kashmir. In 1971 he was appointed India’s first high commissioner to Bangladesh following that country’s independence.

Dixit’s subsequent diplomatic postings included the United States, where he served in the Indian embassy in Washington, D.C., during the late 1970s, and Afghanistan, where he served as ambassador (1981–85). He became India’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka in 1985 and oversaw the signing of accords with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1987 that brought in Indian peacekeeping troops and gave the Tamil minority limited self-rule in Tamil-controlled areas. Dixit also served as ambassador/high commissioner to Pakistan (1989–91) and became Indian foreign secretary and chief of the IFS in 1991.

After his retirement from the IFS in 1994, Dixit wrote on facets of Indian diplomacy for several Indian newspapers and journals and taught classes at universities both in India and abroad. He joined the Congress Party in 2002 as a nonelected senior official to assist party leaders in setting their political agenda concerning national defense and security matters. In May 2004 Dixit was appointed national security adviser under Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Dixit also wrote several books on Indian diplomacy, including Indian Foreign Policy and Its Neighbours (2001), India-Pakistan in War and Peace (2002), and Indian Foreign Service: History and Challenge (2005). He was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan for civil service in 2005.