FROM THE DG’s DESK

Amongst the soul-stirring happenings in India in the year gone by, none stands out with greater poignancy than the NSG ‘Operation Black Tornado’ against terrorists in Mumbai. The result oriented action of the NSG with successes on more fronts than one will reverberate in the corridors of time. The best of NSG unfolded during the operation when the nation and the world watched with bated breath. The operation was executed by the Black Cat Commandos with professionalism and surgical precision.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 had dawned like any other morning, but no one could have imagined that the events of the day would spill over to the next few days and cause an upheaval within the country and worldwide. Before the arrival of the NSG on the morning of Thursday, November 27^th at the scene in Mumbai, 8 terrorists had spread death and mayhem by taking the life of police officers, common people and innocent guests and staff of two prestigious hotels with AK-47 rifles, pistols, explosives and grenades. Soon after their deployment, the NSG officers and Commandos went about their task with purpose and determination. The overriding concern was the protection and security of hostages, the hotel guests and staff.

Within 24 hours of their arrival, the NSG Commandos shot dead two of the terrorists at Hotel Oberoi – Trident and secured the premises thereby allowing search and rescue of frightened inmates in the rooms, restaurants and kitchens, etc. A few hours after taking control at Hotel Oberoi, the NSG also dominated Nariman House where another two terrorists were killed. The last shot by the NSG Commandos was fired on the morning of Saturday, November 29, 2008 at Hotel Taj – Heritage resulting in the neutralization of the remaining four terrorists in quick succession. After taking care of unexploded grenades, live ammunition strewn around and recovery of some loaded weapons, all the venues were rendered safe and made over by the NSG to the local authorities for attending to other legal formalities. Complete co-operation of Maharashtra Police, MARCOS, ATS of Mumbai Police, Indian Army personnel in cordoning off the places of incident enabled the NSG to attend to its job with undistracted dedication. The Fire Brigade did a splendid job in quickly extinguishing the flames in rooms set on fire by the terrorists.

We joined the nation in saluting two of our brave NSG Commandos namely, Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Hav Gajender Singh who made the supreme sacrifice and laid down their lives valiantly fighting the terrorists during ‘Operation Black Tornado’. Their sacrifices will not go in vain but will inspire all of us and spur the security forces across the nation to rededicate themselves in fighting terrorists and anti-social elements.

Many other tasks entrusted by the Government were accomplished by the NSG. Security cover was provided for the Indo African Summit held in April 2008 in New Delhi and the Beijing Olympics Torch Rally. Post blast investigation and bomb disposal was carried out following the serial blasts at Jaipur, Bangaluru, Ahmedabad, Surat, Assam, Delhi and Mumbai. Anti-sabotage checks were conducted on numerous occasions. The demand for sky marshals has been on the rise with an increase in domestic and international flights of airlines registered in the country. A joint exercise of NSG Commandos with GARUD of the Indian Air Force was held to coordinate and fine tune counter terrorist skills. It marked a new thrust in our preparedness and ability to combat terrorism or undertake a rescue mission.

The international seminar of the National Bomb Data Centre of NSG, held in Feb 2008 on the theme ‘Fighting Terror an Integrated Approach’, went a long way in synergizing our efforts in the task of combating terrorism in its varied manifestations.

Never before in modern times has the country needed highly trained special forces like the NSG capable of undertaking missions for making a breakthrough and dominating crisis situations. The vastness of the country, prevailing security scenario, economic development, rise in air traffic, etc have generated an increasing requirement for speedy response from the NSG in their duties as well as in reaching a trouble spot. Now the time has come for the NSG to spread its wings elsewhere in the country and the Government has decided, in principle, to open NSG Regional Centres.

The future portends greater testing times for the security forces of our country. Appropriate anti-terror laws, improved intelligence collection systems, use of latest technology, enforcement of responsibilities and duties by every citizen will definitely play a crucial role in the security and stability of our country from threats emanating across borders, over land, on water and in air.

The NSG will continue in its endeavour to meet the raised benchmarks and develop innovative methods to cope with the future security concerns of our country. Instead of being surprised, we must have ways to surprise the foe. Our earlier revamped training methods stand vindicated and we have to now further update and modernize our training modules with the times to enable the NSG Black Cat Commandos to execute their assigned tasks with utmost confidence and strength to live up to our motto: Sarvatra Sarvottam Suraksha.

The NSG has entered a glorious 25^th year of its existence, studded with spectacular achievements. I take this opportunity to wish all the members of NSG and their families a very happy, healthful and prosperous New Year 2009. May the New Year turn your dreams into reality and all your efforts scale higher peaks.

JAI HIND.