Captain Alok Bansal is Director, India Foundation. He is also the Secretary General of Asian Eurasian Human Rights Forum. He was the founder Executive Director of the South Asian Institute for Strategic Affairs (SAISA) and a visiting professor at the Pakistan Studies Programme at Jamia Millia Islamia. He has been the Executive Director of the National Maritime Foundation and has also worked with the IDSA, and CLAWS.

He served in the Indian Navy for 32 years, before seeking premature retirement. He participated in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka and has commanded two warships. He has recently co-edited a book titled UNCLOS: Solutions for Managing the Maritime Global Commons. He has earlier authored two books titled Balochistan in Turmoil: Pakistan at Cross Roads and Gilgit-Baltistan and its Saga of Unending Human Rights Violations. He has co-authored a book titled Occupied Territories of Bharat and has co-edited South Asian security: 21st century discourses, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir: The Untold Story, Sri Lanka: Search for Peace and Geopolitics of Himalayan Region: Cultural, Political and Strategic Dimensions. He has also written numerous research papers and chapters in books, besides newspaper articles and web commentaries on contemporary subjects.