Lt General Davar was commissioned into the 7th Light Cavalry regiment of the Indian Army. As a young officer, Davar participated in the 1965 India-Pakistan War, during which he was wounded in action in the Lahore sector. Subsequently, he also participated in active operations during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. He eventually rose to command the 86 Armoured Regiment of the Indian Army, and also to serve on the Indian Military Training Team in Iraq. As a brigadier, he commanded the spearhead armoured brigade of the Army and subsequently was an instructor at the College of Combat As a major general, Davar was sent, the first armoured corps officer to command 3 Div responsible for the entire Ladakh sector. After 2 eventful years, he was posted as chief of staff at the corps headquarters in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir during the height of counter-insurgency operations. He subsequently rose to become general officer commanding of an army corps in Punjab, in the rank of lieutenant general. After completion of command as GOC of a corps, he was appointed director-general, Mechanised Forces at Army Headquarters in 2001. On 5 March 2002, the government announced Davar's appointment as the first chief of The Defence Intelligence Agency and Deputy Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff. As the first chief of the DIA, he is reputed to have taken many pioneering intelligence initiatives both at home and abroad. General Davar has also served as the Colonel of the Regiment of 86 Armoured Regiment, as well as that of 74 Armoured Regiment.
Family
Kamal Davar is the son of Dr M. C. Davar, a renowned freedom fighter and a well-known Congress leader. His family is well known in the nation for their nationalistic and secular fervour. A road in Delhi, Dr MC Davar Marg, named after his father, honours his memory.
Environmentalism
A keen environmentalist, Lt Gen Kamal Davar was the force behind the successful campaign to plant lakhs of trees in Punjab and clean the Harike Bird Sanctuary in Punjab. After retirement he continues his love for the environment exhorting local army units and schools to plant trees regularly. He is also an active and leading member of The SPOKE and recently nominated as its president.
Post retirement activities
Post retirement, the General has been writing regularly for the national media/military journals and has over a 100 published articles to his credit on security related, counter-terrorism and intelligence issues. He is also frequently called upon by various institutions, both in India and abroad, to address them on diverse security related and geo-political subjects.. Currently he is also the Convenor of the Strategic Studies Cell, a think tank based in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh in India. Gen Davar is also a member, from India, of the international High Level Military Group monitoring Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, along the West Bank and Israel-Lebanon border. Gen Davar is associated also with many security related think tanks besides being involved with important Track 2 Dialogues regards India-Pakistan affairs. Gen Davar has been recently nominated as the president of a new think tank established in the capital called The Delhi Forum For Strategic Studies. Gen Davar has recently published his debut book on the Pakistani Deep State captioned TRYST WITH PERFIDY. The book has received an overwhelming response both among military and civilian readers.
