Retired Lt Gen DS Hooda, Northern Army Commander during the 'Surgical Strike' in 2016

Congress on Thursday appointed Retired Lt Gen DS Hooda to lead Task Force which will look at our National Security challenges, internal & external, & come out with a vision document that should guide our diplomatic and security policies.

Hooda told ANI that "They requested me if I could lead a Task Force, for over a period of the next 5 yrs to come with a vision document of diplomatic and security policies."

"It's a task I am happy to do...The Task Force has been set up on the initiative of Congress party, but as far as I am personally concerned, I have not joined the Congress party." Hooda added.

Hooda, who had overseen the surgical strike of September 2016 on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, retired from service in November 2016. In December, he had triggered a controversy by saying that the surgical strike was "overhyped and politicised."