Background
Lieutenant General Nambiar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 30 August 1936, to Kunhananthan Nambiar and Chenicheri Devikutty.
Lieutenant General Nambiar was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 30 August 1936, to Kunhananthan Nambiar and Chenicheri Devikutty.
He was educated mostly in Pune and Mumbai, and is an alumnus of Saint Xavier"s College, Mumbai.
He was the first Force Commander and Head of Mission of UNPROFOR, the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia during 1992-1993. He is the elder brother of former United Nations Under-Secretary-General Vijay Nambiar. He was an Under Officer with the National Cadet Corps, and joined the 20th regular course of the Indian Military Academy.
During 1977-1979, Nambiar was a part of the Indian Army Training team in Iraq.
During 1983-1987, he worked as a Military Adviser at the High Commission of India, London. He also worked as the Director General of Military Operations in India.
He was the first Force Commander and Head of Mission of the United Nations forces in Yugoslavia. He retired as the Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (India) in 1994.
After his retirement, Nambiar worked as a researcher and author on topics related to war, defence strategy and international relations.
He served on the United Nations High Level Panel on “Threats, Challenges and Change”, which provided basis for the United Nations Secretary General"s report to the 2005 World Summit. Since 2011, he is a distinguished fellow of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.