After 60 long, frightening, and uncertain hours of the ‘fidayeen attacks’ on Mumbai, at about 0800 hrs on 29 Nov 2008, the National Security Guards (NSG) commandos victoriously embraced each other with a faint smile on their faces. Meanwhile, the DG NSG announced on electronic media that the Taj Mahal Hotel was clear of terrorists, and sanitization operations were underway on the premises. Needless to say, the whole nation anxiously remained glued to their TV sets for hours together and had a sigh of relief with pride and jubilation. My mobile blinked almost simultaneously, and I received the SMS I had been waiting for from Brig Bobby Mathews, Commander Mumbai Sub Area, who was deep in operations. He dutifully responded, as is customary in army lingo, “Operation over.” All OK. Regards, Bobby. Bobby served as my adjutant during the deployment of our Battalion 2 KUMAON (Berar) in the Ahmedabad riots in 1954.
Notwithstanding the brave and committed effort put up by the local police and the armed forces, especially the NSG and the Marine commandos, the appreciation of the magnitude and handling of the crisis by the political masters and bureaucracy, both at the Centre and the State levels, was inept with uncoordinated knee-jerk responses as if routine localized tragedy had occurred. We believe our response lacked the leadership qualities demonstrated by the Mayor of New York during the Twin Towers attack on 9/11. Despite repeated terrorist attacks and disasters, our responses suffer from the ‘routine chalta hai’ syndrome and require a more professional, mature, and proactive approach.
Regrettably, this was yet another instance of our recurring intelligence failure, stemming from our unwillingness to learn from our past mistakes. Without this, the terrorists could have acted with unprecedented stealth and speed, attacking 10 different locations and then moving into three iconic buildings: the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, and the Nariman House of the Jewish Community. Indiscriminate killings targeted these buildings, resulting in 187 fatalities and over 300 injuries, including 22 foreigners. Twenty-two security personnel also laid down their lives in this avoidable tragedy. These terrorists fought with brazen grit, determination, and doggedness, equipped with a range of arms, ammunition, explosives, and technical gadgets like sat phones and global positioning systems, underscoring their high morale, motivation, and months of meticulous preparations. The cancellation of England’s cricket tour and numerous other mega events not only shamed our status as an emerging global power internationally but also maimed Mumbai.
It is now known who carried out these attacks. A group of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists came from Pakistan via a ship from Karachi, later hijacked a small Indian fishing trawler, ‘Kuber,’ killing its crew, got past Indian coastal patrols, and ultimately landed near the Gateway of India to wreak havoc in Mumbai by holding the Taj Mahal Hotel and Oberoi-Trident occupants hostage, attacking the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Nariman House, Cafe Leopold, and Cama Hospital, and inflicting heavy casualties. The terrorists had made extensive preparations, including surveillance, the collection of real-time vital intelligence on these soft targets, and the provision of logistical support to execute well-planned operations.
According to media reports, our security forces shot and killed 10 terrorists, apprehending one named ‘Ajmal Kasab.’ It is noteworthy that, despite our security forces being ‘foreign and unfamiliar’ with their own city’s operations, the alleged Pakistani terrorists possessed blueprints of the Taj Mahal Hotel, which they exploited in their fierce battles. The magnitude and scale of this terrorist act are so significant that they have the potential to trigger a major confrontation between two nuclear states.
Lessons that need to be learned from Mumbai Mayhem
Political leadership
The political leadership, both at the state and central levels, was remarkably inept. We may all remember how, in the US, the mayor of New York voluntarily assumed leadership to motivate and coordinate relief operations following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. But our local political leaders remained in the background. Nothing could be more bizarre than Maharashtra CM Deshmukh with his actor son visiting the Taj Mahal Hotel with film producer Ram Gopal Verma the day after the attack with a large police contingent for their protection, seemingly looking for a film on Mumbai terrorist attacks to be made with his son in the lead role. In another instance, the Kerala CM was not allowed to visit the family of the late Major Unnikrishnan of the NSG, who sacrificed his life, fighting terrorists in the Taj Mahal Hotel. The Kerala CM’s remarks, suggesting that if Unnikrishnan hadn’t been a Major in the Indian Army and died in action, not even a dog would have visited his house, were both unfortunate and uncalled for. Regrettably, the traumatized family did not receive the healing touch they so desperately needed. In another such instance, ATF chief Karkare’s widow refused financial aid from Gujarat’s CM Narendra Modi, as he, a few days before the Mumbai action, had demanded a narco test of this gallant top cop investigating the Malegaon incident. We also request that VIPs and bigwigs refrain from visiting such operational sites with large paraphernalia, as their presence can disrupt operations.
National Response
Rightly, every man and woman in our country gets highly agitated over such terrorist acts and disasters and seeks governmental protection and aid. Unlike the US and Israel, where every able-bodied person undergoes compulsory military training, our national response lacks impact due to the non-involvement of the common man and woman on the street. It is time we, as a nation, involve our youth in compulsory military training. It will not only provide an abundance of trained manpower in military matters, but it will also channel its energies toward national defense and nation-building. It was indeed sad to see that while the country was under attack, marriages with pomp and show and vulgar displays of wealth were being solemnized in many places, including Mumbai. Austerity during grave national crises should be the natural norm and response as a nation.
Establishment of Control Room
I saw the war on terrorism in Mumbai being fought on TV, but I really wonder if there was any ‘Centralized Control Room’ established with proper maps, communication setup, and facilities for periodical media briefings. Instead of visiting the operational sites, where they can impede and disrupt operations, the VIPs should only visit the Centralized Control Room for briefings. It appears this was not done.
Homeland Security
We have a vast porous coastline and land borders. Therefore, we need an independent dedicated homeland security apparatus both at the national and state levels to coordinate the country’s security. This cannot be left to the Border Security Force, Coast Guard, and similar other Para Military Forces (PMFs) working independently under the Home Ministry. We should learn from the US model where homeland security is a core function of the federal government and after 9 /11 no major act of terrorism has occurred. Similarly, Israel is surrounded by hostile Muslim states but the efficacy of its homeland security is a role model for the rest of the world to imbibe. US President Barack Obama after introducing Hillary Clinton as his choice for Secretary of State unveiled appointments of General James Jones, the former NATO commander as National Security Advisor and retained Cold War veteran Robert Gates as his Secretary of Defence thus laying great emphasis on homeland security.
Maritime Security
While maritime security would be part of the homeland security, intelligence collection, and safety and security of our exclusive economic zone would need special attention of the Coast Guard duly supported by the Indian Navy and coastal area police force. Our Coast Guard and Navy’s blue water capability also needs to be augmented so that Somalia-like pirates do not hijack our merchant vessels at will for ransom. We must register and computerize all fishermen, their boats, and trawlers and ensure no illegal poaching or fishing is done in our waters. We must utilize the services of local fishermen for maritime intelligence. Had credible action been taken on the forewarning of the carriage of suspicious goods in a boat given by the local fishermen by the Coast Guard and the local police, our proactive response would have prevented terrorists’ attacks on Mumbai.
Federal Intelligence Agency
Time and again our reactive response has been due to intelligence failure but we have failed to learn from the past. We do understand its importance but each intelligence agency does not want to give up its autonomy and works independently. The users seldom get real-time actionable hard intelligence as field units gather intelligence and forward it to their masters in Delhi who as time pass it users become stale old and nonproductive. Also, inputs given are delightfully vague and used to save one’s own back in case of a crisis. Mostly our sources of information are the same for our different intelligence agencies. We need to ensure the credibility of these raw inputs through other means. Consequently, we must enhance and improve our human and technical intelligence resources. We should also make use of our space capability to gather intelligence from this dimension. We need to develop satellite surveillance and share intelligence with other friendly countries to our mutual advantage. Despite the removal of some political leaders during the immediate anti-terrorist operations, the heads of the intelligence agencies continue to enjoy immunity. The National security apparatus needs to be streamlined and overhauled and made accountable.
It is often criticized that armed forces lack intelligence-gathering mechanisms. Though armed forces are the major users of intelligence, in our setup, during peace times, primarily our armed forces depend on the Research and Analysis Wing for external intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau for the internal and peripheral countries’ intelligence. The armed forces’ own intelligence organizations are only capable of localized combat intelligence when contact with the enemy is made during hostilities. Therefore, it is inappropriate to criticize them for intelligence failure. There is also a need to coordinate the sharing of intelligence inputs generated by anti-narcotics, customs, revenue, finance, and economic departments of center and states, space, atomic energy, industry, state police, all Para Military Forces, various NGOs, and other agencies/organizations of the country.
National Security Guard & Special Forces Response
The NSG is located at Manesar; a good one-hour drive from Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi during non-peak hours. The IAF aircraft earmarked for their lift to Mumbai was located at Chandigarh and took time to refuel and come to Delhi wasting valuable time. The procedures and drills for crisis management should be outlined in our Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs). It would have been worthwhile to do emergent requisitioning of suitable aircraft from private airlines /Air India for quicker transportation of the NSG commandos for swiffer response.
Special Forces like Para commandos and subunits of the NSG should be located at nodal cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Chennai for quicker response to cover a vast country of ours. Wherever they are located, they must be close to an airport, railway station, and communication center for quick real-time response. In grave emergencies, all national resources both in public and private domains should be mustard for the quickest optimized response. Helicopters equipped with landing and refueling facilities must be deployed immediately from their bases and airports to their operational sites to ensure a swift response.
Our armed forces do not have basic equipment like stun grenades, smoke grenades, and rubberized bullets. Use of these in built-up areas paralyzes the target ensuring his capture. A captured terrorist would not only be an effective source of intelligence but also credible evidence to support our claim against Pakistani support of such dastardly acts. Needless to say, our troops also need good communication and global positioning systems.
The NSG was raised in 1984 for anti-hijacking and anti-terrorist operations with two wings- Special Action Group (SAG) comprising crack army personnel on deputation and Special Rangers Group (SAG) from Para Military Forces (PMF). It is a matter of grave concern that more than half the resources of the SAG are being wasted in protecting politicians. While some of them may have genuine threats, on others, this highly trained resource is being misused more as a status symbol.
It’s time NSG is placed under the command of a three-star Army General. It was a pity seeing NSG DG, a police officer during the Mumbai attacks moving about and giving press statements when he had perhaps no role in planning a military operation launched by the military element of the Armed forces. At best SPG could be rightly under an appropriate rank of police officer.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
It is disappointing to note that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) formed under the Ministry of Home Affairs only reacts during natural disasters like floods, fires, famines, and earthquakes. I am not sure how effectively the NDMA is operating as during the recent Bihar floods its response was sluggish. In fact, various NGOs and voluntary organizations responded much faster. It’s time we revamp and co-opt NDMA in all types of disasters. It can be very effective in post-disaster activities of rehabilitation and succor to traumatized victims who besides medical and financial relief need psychiatric and psychological treatment to restart living normal lives fast, so often badly neglected.
The NDMA constituted in 2005 is part of the Home Ministry but functions directly under the Prime Minister. Its Executive Committee has a maximum of 9 members who are nominated by the PM and assisted by the Secretaries of the relevant ministries and the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) as an Armed Forces representative who takes all decisions on behalf of the Armed Forces.
Each State is required to establish the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) under its chief minister. The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will assist the SDMA. The NDMA and SDMAs in each State were required to establish state-of-the-art control rooms (Emergency Operation Centers) which were to be manned around the clock during an emergency. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) did its part to disseminate all early warnings to these Control Rooms. I am not too sure this infrastructure and SOPS have been created at each state and district level as these were nowhere visible in the recent Bihar floods or Mumbai attacks. Effective workable plans for natural and man-made disasters need to be formulated from village, panchayat, taluka, district, state, and upwards to the national level with details worked out for each level. Selection of suitable professionals, communications, rehearsals, and resource allocation on a need basis should naturally be taken care of.
Are We Prepared Against Nuclear Disasters
Technology for making atom bombs is readily available. Impulsion ‘Nuclear Bomb’ can be made from just 9-12 kgs of enriched uranium (90% purity) but ‘Dirty Bomb’ can be made with much less. Numbers of thefts of ‘Cobalt 60’ have been reported as having taken place in various cancer hospitals the world over. Cobalt 60 can be used for making ‘Dirty Bomb’ easily. Similarly, there are reports that several suitcase-sized nuclear bombs were missing after breaking away from the Soviet Union. The possibility of these falling into the hands of terrorists & rogue states exists.
Protection Against Nuclear Detonation
Presently, we are neither prepared nor steps have been taken in educating the masses on nuclear disasters. Disaster Management should be included in undergraduate courses, IAS & IPS, and armed forces academies. Numerous NGOs, media, civil, defense & industry need to be co-opted & involved to meet such challenges.
Police Equipment and Reforms
Our police reforms have been overdue for ages despite numerous recommendations from various expert committees. Our police force is understaffed, ill-equipped, ill-trained, and physically and mentally unfit. The pot-bellied policeman carries colonial stigmas of Daroga Raj, bribes, corruption, and fear psychosis amongst the masses. Hordes of local police were seen during Mumbai operations hanging around with antiquated World War 1 Enfield 303 rifles while terrorists were masquerading with the latest AKs, ammunition, explosives, sat phones, and global positioning systems. Our entire police force needs rifles and equipment of the day, physical, mental & emotional training, motivation & good professional leadership. The police must be people-friendly with high professional integrity.
It is also a matter of grave concern that a few terrorists could hijack a police car with its top ATS cops sitting inside and killing them. It intrigues any professional mind as to where to protect the staff of the top cops, backup vehicle(s), and loaded personal arms of the occupants! Quick intuitive action of the trained professionals should have knocked these terrorists at the very first instance.
Media Management
Media management was shabby as no periodical briefings from the ‘Operational Control Room’ were organized. Numerous news channels continued to present conflicting news and visuals. In such situations at night, lights in areas outside the buildings under terrorists’ siege should be switched off to prevent terrorists from taking pop shots at people outside. During intervening nights of operations with camera lights on, the electronic media crew attracted fire many times but mercifully there were no casualties.
Terror Management
Management of violence in urban scenarios with a huge population and traffic congestion is the most hazardous, complex, time-consuming, and strenuous military operation. The collateral property damage and casualties of innocent people attract severe attention from the media and human rights groups. All this needs specialized training, communications, and the ability to operate intuitively as security forces would be operating, as was in the instance case, in small groups and sub-groups independently.
Isolation of Rouge State(s) and Terrorists
It’s time our response against Pakistan is firm. This can only yield results if diplomatic, military, and economic pressure from the international community of nations and the UNO is exerted against Pakistan and those countries that are funding and supporting terrorism. Unless the US, Russia, China, Japan, Israel, the European Union, the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, SAARC, etc, act firmly in unison, isolation of Pakistan and the terrorists would not be possible. India should also deliberate on the option of striking terrorist camps in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) after taking the US, Russia, China, and the European Union in confidence.
Nationalism
While Mumbai was under terrorists’ siege and our brave patriotic armed forces personnel were risking their lives to save innocent people taken as hostages, I asked my countrymen where were the politicians. Will politicians answer this nagging question to every Indian citizen, foreigner, and armed forces personnel who lost their lives to save Mumbai and the country from the terrorist attacks?
Lastly, will somebody answer my last question? An Olympic shooter received over Rs 3 crores in compensation for winning a gold medal. But another shooter dies fighting terrorists and enemies in Mumbai or elsewhere and his family barely gets compensation of Rs 5 lakh. Do we have a conscience as a nation..!!