Chief of the Army Staff Pyarjung Thapa was born to Tej Jung Thapa and Ishwari Thapa on September 15, 1946 at Siphal of Kathmandu.
Thapa completed Senior Cambridge in first division from the St; Xavier’s Secondary School, Kathmandu in 1963 and Bachelor in Arts from Tribhuvan University.
He joined the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) in 1964 and received basic military training at the prestigious Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom in 1966.
Thapa was initially employed as a Second Lieutenant in Singhanath Battalion. He attended the platoon commander course and weapon-training course from School of Infantry in UK in 1967.
This was followed by a tactics and administration training in the country and rangers course from the United States of America. After being promoted as Major, Thapa led the military action against the Tibetan Khampas who had taken shelter in Mustang district after being displaced from Tibet in 1974.
Thapa who has worked as instructor at the Royal Nepal Army School in Nagarkot in 1975 went back to the UK in 1977 to attend the army staff training at Camberley.
On being promoted to the post of Lieutenant Colonel, Thapa commanded Shree Singha Nath Battalion, both in Nepal and in Lebanon from 1983 to 1987. In 1986, he was appointed as battalion commander in United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), where he exercised both his military, professional and diplomatic skills to reduce tensions and hostilities between different warring factions within his area of responsibility.
He also attended interviewing officers course and senior command course from India in 1985 and 1987. After being promoted to the post of Colonel, he was appointed as the commandant of the Royal Nepalese Military Academy at Kharipati in 1988.
In 1992, he served in the United Nations Protection Forces (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia as deputy sector commander of the vital sector west at the initial and crucial phase of the mission. He graduated from the US Army War College in the United States of America in 1966.
Promoted to Major General and appointed Assistant Chief of Staff (ACOS) in 1988. General Thapa was appointed the chief coordinator for the multinational platoon training exercise organized in Nepal, where troops from the USA, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka participated in a combined peacekeeping exercise with troops from America, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in 1999.
General Thapa was promoted to the rank of Lt. General in 2201 and was appointed chief of general staff. He has been actively involved in the planning and execution of the ongoing military operations against the Maoist terrorists, He has extensively visited various incident sties and acquired profound knowledge about the present operational situation.
He has also led military delegations to neighbouring India and China and is decorated with Subikhyat Trishaktipatta second class. Thapa is fond of bridge and is a keen golfer. He is married to social worker Kamala Thapa and is a father of three daughters. nepalnews.com am Sept 10