” The remarkable success of Black Thunder-II was mainly a result of painstaking, long-term planning by men who put their minds together to deliver the first vital, if not decisive, blow to the fundamentalist militancy in Punjab.
“At Manesar, in the National Security Guards’ (NSG) main complex nestling in the rocky Aravalis, 40 km from New Delhi, sat Ved Marwah, the new director-general of the elite anti-terrorist force. There were men slithering down helicopters simulating break-ins into buildings under siege, snipers picking out distantly-placed earthen pitchers with amazing accuracy and squads bursting into rooms, throwing granaries and firing Irons the hip.
“For more than three months, his officers had been planning for the inevitable. From the day the guns returned to the temple, intelligence reports reaching NSG headquarters Dui? 4171, Rim P rin7o 41 in New Delhi’s staid Pragati Vihar Central Police Organisations complex spoke of the imminent need to use force. Without delay, officers, assisted by handpicked juniors began weekend trips to Amritsar. They wore Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) uniforms and armed with jus binoculars and sketch pads, they spent hours at the CRPF pickets around the temple.
“On March 9 when Jasbir Singh Rode was anointed Akal Takht head priest, officers were at the pickets watching every movement, counting heads, guns and identifying faces. Some officers stopped trimming their beards for the occasional, but vital walk, inside the temple.
“It was tempting to peep inside the parikarma rooms but they were ordered to avoid doing so. For, being caught meant sure torture and death. The video films made by the army after Bluestar gave an idea of the rooms. One showe a brick wall built across the room just inside the entrance. An unsuspecting soldier could. throw a granade at it, only to have it rebound. A mock-up was created at Manesar, a tent used to simulate the wall and troops trained to negotiat it. The brains of NSG veterans of Black Thunder-I – the futile raid on the temple on April 30, 1986 after the Panthi Committee announced the “formation” Khalistan – were also picked.
“Other Is…el were ueing played in Manesar in deadly earnest. With a pile of children’s building blocks, officers built a large model of the temple complex, juxtaposing it with photographs. To give the ranks a better feel of what lay ahead, officers scoured nearby towns, and chose two buildings : a high school at Tauru and a college at Nuh, both wit, an hour’s drive from Manesar. The structure of both -resemble led the parikarma. Soon incredulous residents of the small towns watched commandos scurrying about in mock attacks on the buildings.
“With the basics sorted out, it was time to get into the specifics. Each squadron (the NSG operates in battalion- strength groups, each with three fighting squadrons at 100 men apiece) was allocated a specific part of the temple complex. The main entrances were to be avoided as terror is gun emplacements covered these with uncanny accuracy. Also in June 1984, tine army had made infantry charges at night and through the main entrances, suffering heavy casualities.
Now it was also decided to launch the assault in daylight.
“It is best if we can see the adversaries clearly. After all, we are much better trained than them,” says an officer.
“The plan was now complete: as soon as the Government took the decision to raid the temple, the NSG would fly in its number 51. Special Action Group (SAG) besides one or more of its Special Ranger Groups for tactical and cordon back-up. The rangers would cordon the area along with the CRPF and the action group would break into the parikarma at several pre-selected spots, in some places by breaching the wall with explosives.
“Such a special operation required special tools. The NSG bought its conimandos a highly specialised array of weaponry – the standard personal weapon being the West German MP 5 submachine-gun, a weapon remarkable accuracy and range. Some also carried the ubiquitous AK-47 which has tormented Indian troops in Punjab and in Jaffna. “We learnt from the guerrillas,” says an officer. “At close range, the guerrilla’s best weapon is also the soldier’s best weapon.”
“The assault troops were also backed up by an effective force multiplier : snipers, for whom an explosive, new rifle had recently been procured, the PSG-I from West Germany’s Heckler and Koch company. The giant rifle is actually the size of a light machine-gun and has great accuracy up to 1,000 yards : the manufacturer’s manual says it should be able to pick a man’s shirt buttons at 700 yards. Its 7.62 mm bullet travels at a velocity much higher than that of the ordinary rifle and can slice a brick of a battlement at that distance. The telescopic sight is accurate and the passive night vision device that lights up the target area by concentrating star light, gives the sniper murderous reach. Specialised ferret ammunition was available to thrust irritating gases through thick wooden doors and walls. It would have come handy in case the terrorists hiding in the temple needed to be smoked out.
“The commandos wore heavy flak jackets, extraordinarily weighty helmets and besides the hi-tech razzle dazzle, carried plenty of home-made stuff improvised for the operation. There were, for example, gun cotton and plastique slabs tied to wooden poles for blasting barred entry doors; other poles carried Molotov cocktails, to cause small fires and panic. On May 13, the operation commanders anticipating the worst asked the Government to buy canisters of CS/CN gas from the US, just in case the terrorists had to be smoked out of their hide-outs. Three days later the canisters were being off-loaded by an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft at Amritsar. Armed to the teeth thus, SAG commandos waited for the final launch.
“Nothing tests the nerve of the elite soldier more than the unending wait for action. For more than two months, all leaves were cancelled for the NSG men. But the situation relaxed a little with the arrival of Rode and the political initiative gave commando preparations the backseat. Twenty-five per cent leave was restored but officers kept on visiting temple regularly. Then suddenly, came the shooting of CRPF Deputy Inspector General, Sarabdeep Singh Virk. The Government was left with no choice but unleash the commandos.
It is rmootpoint now but it is possible that if that one trigger-happy terrorist had not made the mistake of firing at Virk, the history of Punjab would not have taken this turn. Virk himself talks about it philosophically : “Overall, it -was not such a bad exchange,” he told INDIA TODAY from his bed in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.
“As doctors in Amritsar struggled to restore Virk’s shattered jaw, things began moving in New Delhi at a frenetic pace. Immediately, a meeting was held in the office of Union Home Minister Buta Singh and a detailed plan drafted. This was followed by 11 major meetings, and at eight of them Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was present. Buta Singh and Minister of State for Home P. Chidambaram also visited the NSG operations room. In the action plan, 23 points around the temple were selected for firing at the terrorists. A cool though visibly indignant prime minister personally cleared the plan but put two difficult conditions : first, that the forces would not enter the main temple complex and that casualities were to be avoided.
“Once the orders were given, the execution proceeded like clockwork. A constant stream of lAr aircraft flew about 1,000 commandos and their equipment to Amritsar. The first to take up position were the snipers. The first pair climbed atop the 300-ft-high water tank behind the Guru Ramdas Serai. From their perch that dominated even the two 18th century towers – the Ramgarhia Bungas – on which the main terrorist defences were located, they picked out victims at will.
“Aincrig the first to pay the price for underestimating this deadly new threat was Panthic Committee spokesman, Jagir Singh. He sneaked out of his hide-out in room number 14 on the parikarma momentarily to drink water and was shot in the head. Another militant peeped out to drag him back, and was. shot as well. The two bodies lay rotting as the 45 degree celsius heat engulfed the area in unbearable stench. Later, iterrogation of the surrendered terrorists showed that it was the clinical shooting of Jagir Singh that demoralised them the most.
Extracts from “India Today” June 15, 1988 the report is by Shekhar Gupta and Vipul Mudgil
