Squadron Leader Hamza had just been flown in from Muridke the same evening. Sitting quietly in the mess guest room, Hamza nursed a glass of whisky and water. The Black Label was kept in the bottom of his kit bag. Haram or not, it felt good. He felt good. He was tired of training assignments. And when he saw that he was the only passenger on the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chopper from Muridke, he knew that he was in for some real action. An adrenalin junky, Hamza was a natural Special Forces type. He took pride in his supremely athletic body and had finished on top of his SSG class. And now as a Pakistan Air Force Special Forces man, he loved his life. For the last fifteen days he had been posted to a camp run by the LET and was a training officer there. He had already had a strike team of twenty people ready. He too looked forward to the briefing tomorrow.
Brigadier Hasan greeted both officers as they walked in. Colonel Khan was already there. He, along with Squadron Leader Gillani from PAF and Colonel Sharif were sitting on one side of the conference table. General Hussain was at the head of the table. Both officers saluted him and took their seats on the other side of the table. Hasan started the discussion by setting the context.
“You gentlemen are here because of the unique experience in asymmetrical operations you bring to the table. We also have details of the specific competencies each of your teams or the people you have trained possess. Besides this, both of you have also served together. I am sure your interoperability brings definite advantages to the project.” He gestured to Colonel Khan, “Colonel Khan will now take you through the details of the operation. He has devised the entire plan and is in charge of activating the sleeper agents and other resources in India and Bangladesh. He will be your commander for this operation.”
Colonel Khan began by sharing the background of the operation and the target. He then went into the details.
“Both your teams will be inserted into India independently of each other and from different locations. You must choose five men each; the best five in your team. They should be able to speak Urdu and at least read and speak basic English. Shezad, your team will use the call sign ‘Karnail’. Since your team is already in the vicinity of LOC, you will cross over into Kupwara sector with a team of Hizbul operatives being pushed in for guerrilla activities in Kashmir. The team is led by a very able commander, Wasim Khan. He and his twenty men are responsible for your safe passage across the LOC. As soon as you enter India, a Hurriyat operative will meet you and supply you with Indian currency and papers. Wasim Khan will make arrangements to escort you to a safe house in Jammu. The safe house is controlled by an ISI agent who is a close confidant of a legislator in the J&K legislative assembly. He is a powerful man. He will ensure that you and your five men, along with a guide he will provide, are put on a plane to Mumbai. Once you land in Mumbai, a sleeper agent will come and receive you at the airport. He will take you to a safe house. This is where you will camp until a day before the attack. The sleeper agent, Mr Amin, as you will know him, will provide you with a new set of papers, documents, money, communication equipment and a vehicle. The day before the attack, a special agent will come down to the Mumbai safe house and drive you and your men to a safe house in Pune. For your safety, Mr Amin does not know about the existence of this ‘driver’. He believes that you are driving yourselves to some destination he doesn’t know of. Once you reach Pune, you will team up with Team Rashid and prepare for the attack.
“What weapons are we to use? How do those reach Pune? Also what happens if we are to abort the mission?” Major Shezad asked.
“Weapons are already being moved to the Pune safe house. It’s a farmhouse which has been rented out solely for this purpose. I will go into the details when we discuss the attack. In Mumbai you will get the details of your bolt hole and the required documents will be handed over to you. There is no turning back once you are in Pune,” answered Khan.
Brigadier Hasan interjected, “In case there is a fire fight while you make your way through Kashmir, you and your men are not to endanger yourselves and the mission. Let Wasim Khan’s boys handle the trouble. That is an order.”
“My men are trained for an attack on Avantipur airfield and we would need a refresher course for the new target,” Shezad added.
“Yes, Major, we understand that. Your men will be flown to Sargodha for a weekend of orientation. The Squadron Leader here will arrange for that in a few days. Would you like to add to that Gillani?” he addressed the Air Force officer.
“Major, we have set up a complete mock-up of the Pune airfield in the SSW training area on the Sargodha airbase. You and your men will spend a weekend there. Your men will get a chance to conduct a few practice sessions with Hamza’s men.” Gillani addressed Hamza, “Your men will leave for Sargodha once you are back. I will have someone at the base dispatch some trucks to pick your boys and equipment. They will undergo a two-week crash course. Your men will be the strike team which hits the military part of the airfield. Major Shezad’s men will create a diversion and draw the security guards at the civilian airport so that you can get through to the airside and then onto the military side of the airfield.”
Colonel Khan came back onto the podium again. “Squadorn Leader Hamza, your men will fly to Bangladesh. We will provide you with documents that identify your men as Qatar-based construction consultants. Once in Dhaka, your boys will drive out to an upcountry location owned by a friendly Jammat politician. A HUJI agent will pick you up at the airport. He will be holding a sign with the name provided on your Qatari passport. He will then install you in a safe house close to the Indian border. We will have someone senior from the agency help you out with some basics. He will come and see you at the safe house. You will cross the border and drive to Kolkata. Once in Kolkata, you will fly out the next morning or the same evening to Pune. Our agent and Major Shezad will be there at the airport to welcome you. While your men are driven to a safe house by an associate of our agent, you and Major Shezad will go along with the agent into the airport on the pretext of dropping him off. He will have a valid ticket to get in and you can buy visitor passes. Spend an hour or so in the airport and get an idea of the movements. It will help you adjust your final plans. Once you are done, return to the safe house; your men will already be there. You will take charge of your weapons and use the shooting range in the basement to get used to the weapons. At 1800 hours you will leave for the airfield. Evening will just be setting in and you will use both darkness and the evening rush hour at the airport to your advantage for the attack. You get into the airfield separately, in two groups, with a ten-minute gap. Once both groups are inside, Major Shezad’s group will begin the attack and create a corridor for Hamza’s men to get through to the airside. You will fight a rearguard action and move towards the airside and hold off the counter-attacking guards on the airside. If possible, destroy or hijack a civilian aircraft on the tarmac. Squadron Leader Hamza’s men will separate into two groups and reach across the runway for the military airfield. Usually there are a couple of airside vehicles or tractors used for luggage transfer on the airside. You should aim to hijack one and rush across the runway towards the military side. The aim will be to hit as many SU30 MKI fighters on the ground and any other military aircrafts possible. Your men will practice the entire sequence in detail at the training facility at Sargodha.
“Any questions?” Colonel Khan concluded his monologue.
“Well, Colonel, how are we going to get the weapons inside the airport complex?” Hamza ventured. “You and your men will be dressed as a university hockey team. Each player will carry his kit bag. We have had the kit bags modified to take in specially adapted AKSUs. You will use similar equipment and weapons for your training at Sargodha. Now the Squadron Leader will share some details with you.”
Gillani switched on the projector. The screen lit up with a photograph of the Pune airfield.
Gillani explained, “The airfield is about seven kilometres from the city centre. The airport has an airside which is hardly 100 yards f
rom the security check point. The airport on the civilian side is guarded by 10 to 15 armed men of the CISF.” The screen started playing a video of the airfield. It showed ticket printouts and passengers’ identity cards being checked at the main entrance.
“There is a common entrance to both the domestic and international departure areas. The building has two floors with an elevator taking passengers to the second floor after the security check. Both floors have separate entries to the air side, with an aero bridge for the first floor.”
Colonel Khan got up, “Note that no luggage is checked at this point. You will have perfect tickets matching your IDs. There is a visitors’ waiting area coming up next,” He said pointing towards the screen. The video showed a row of seats and panned into a steel barricade with a single opening, with an armed guard stationed there, beyond the guard were the x-ray machines.
“Note that your luggage is not checked even as you enter passengers-only area, only the ID.” He paused as the video rolled, “The toilets are beyond this point on the left near the x-ray machines.”
“The guards look bored, not too active,” Shezad commented. The video now played pictures of the ticket counters, of people getting their boarding passes and of the x-ray machines. There were guards patrolling, and there were men at the check-in security. The camera now pointed at the men’s toilet. Gillani paused the video screen.
“Two of Major Shezad’s men go inside and come out firing. The guards will run for cover as a natural instinct. The other men, including yours, use the diversion to deploy their weapons. Ensure that you all carry your handguns on person and not in the bags. They will be useful as your men attack the distracted and panicking guards focused on the men coming out of the toilet with submachine guns blazing and terrified civilians running helter-skelter. Hamza’s men will use the distraction to blaze across the security at check-in and run over to the airside.”
“There will be a few guards at the final departure lounge.”
The video focused on three men with MP5s strolling around casually; beyond them was the glass that separated the passenger side from the airside. “That’s where you punch through,” Colonel Khan emphasised by tapping his fingers at the paused screen.
The nods from both young officers convinced Colonel Khan that the plan seemed more than acceptable to them. It encouraged him to power on, “Once on the Sargodha airfield, the PAF will share the satellite pictures, detailed maps, etc., of the airfield with you. We will take a break now and regroup for further discussions.”
Major Shezad couldn’t help smiling as he saw Hamza rub his hands in glee. He went over,
“How are you? It’s been a long time. Good to see you again.”
Hamza gave him a salute and shook his hands. “It’s an honour to serve with you again, sir”, he lowered his voice then and said, “Incidentally, sir, there seems to be no escape plan.”
Shezad smiled, “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die,” he quoted Lord Tennyson. “Into the valley of Death, rode the six hundred.”
“Indeed sir, feel like a sacrificial lamb at Eid,” Hamza answered in good humour,
Colonel Khan seemed to have overheard them and he strode across, “Aha gentlemen! The effects of a classical education haven’t been lost on either of you,” and they burst into laughter.
3
Kupwara: J&K: One month later: 0400 hours IST
Bloody rain,” Major Ankush Sood swore as he threw away his cigarette. “Let’s get this show on the road, Shinde Saheb.”
Havildar Major (HM) or Sergeant Major Sambhaji Shinde signalled the vehicle behind their ‘Aditya’ Mine Protected Vehicle or MPV. Two Stallion trucks followed them out of the camp. The tail of the convoy was brought up by a Suzuki Gypsy mounted with a 7.62 mm machine gun.
Ankush Sood was an assault engineer now on a stint with Rashtriya Rifles (RR), a counter-insurgency force drawn from the Indian Army. Ankush commanded the Charlie Company 27 Rashtriya Rifle. He was fast realising that the rigours of counter-insurgency operations were far removed from his earlier unit and course postings.
The counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir valley had participation from various armed and paramilitary forces: The Indian Army, Rashtriya Rifles (RR), Paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF) and the local Jammu & Kashmir Police. While the CRPF, BSF and ITBP were deployed in the urban area, the countryside was dominated by the RR and a few CRPF units. The Indian Army was deployed along the Line of Control and as a backup force to other forces. The J&K police provided civil liaison and operational inputs to these forces. It also had a spearhead force called the Special Operations Group (SOG). This force is the elite anti-insurgency police unit. RR (aka National Rifles) is a young force, raised 20 years back, given the long history of the Indian Army. It is a counter-insurgency force made up of troops on tour of duty from other regular units of the Indian Army. The force has some 80,000 troops. It had four force headquarters in the Kashmir valley. Kilo force, to which Ankush’s unit belonged, was responsible for actions in Kupwara-Baramulla districts. The majority of the force is derived from the infantry units of the Indian Army, while around 40 percent is contributed by the other arms. The force is deployed in Jammu & Kashmir. Some consider it the world’s largest counter-insurgency force. It is unique to the Indian Army in the sense that support arms’ officers also serve in frontline combat position and enjoy the experience and pride of leading teams into combat. So despite being an Engineering Corps officer, Ankush found himself commanding a combat team of tough soldiers of the Maratha Light Infantry, an infantry regiment from which the troops of his unit were drawn. As the trucks rolled down a narrow road, Ankush could see troops from the Road Opening Party (ROP) on the side of the tracks. Every few metres, their vehicles had been parked. Every morning, all over the troubled countryside of Kashmir, troops left their camps at the crack of dawn. Their job was mundane, but important. To clear roads, check them with metal detectors and bomb-detection dogs and post a sentry after the clearing of a stretch of road. Every few metres, guards were posted alongside and within sight of each other. The troops could see the roads clearly and ensure that no explosives or ambushes were planted. The roads were guarded through the day and kept open until the troops came back home in the evening. These troops enabled operational columns such as Ankush’s to rush through to their operations. Usually every company was rotated on ROP duty. Like everything in Kashmir, ROP was a term which was unique to an insurgency-affected area.
The guerrilla war in the Kashmir valley has been hard and bitter. And it had started around a couple of decades ago from a political movement which had been hijacked by Pakistan to fulfil its own territorial agenda. The conflict had gone through various cycles of insurgency and continued to haunt the region as the potential nuclear flashpoint. For the Pakistani establishment, Kashmir represented the negation of what they believed was the essence of the two nation theory; Muslim majority parts of British India were rightfully Pakistan’s. Kashmir, as per them, had been treacherously snatched by a wily opponent who had used the insecurity of a Hindu despot to grab the territory. Indians considered the concept of a religion-based state as a travesty to their secular constitution and considered the accession of the territory as final. Pakistan and its armed forces had gone through four armed conflicts to snatch back the territory over the last 60-odd years. Many believed that the insurgency fomented through its proxies was the fifth and continuing conflict. Pakistan had created an infrastructure of about 40 camps which trained these militants through various groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) across Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), Pakistani Punjab and western provinces in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The camps were controlled to varying degrees through the ISI and the Pakistan Army. The control stretched from financial backup and training to political support for front organizations like Jammat-Ud-Dawa (JUD). Early in the conflict, the stage was dominat
ed by Kashmiri groups with a nationalist agenda. Eventually, due to attrition caused by a strong Indian military counteroffensive and the need for Pakistanis to directly control the conflict, the baton was now with pan-Islamic ideology groups like the Lashkar-E-Toyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, among others. These trained militants were then pushed into Indian Kashmir through the Line of Control (LOC). LOC is the de facto border which divides the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir and is disputed by both sides. It has remained more or less constant post the 1971 war and the Shimla Agreement signed on 3 July 1972, named so after the capital of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh where it was signed. Indians responded to the Pakistani action of pushing the militants across the border under the cover of fire by fencing a very large part of the LOC. This fencing is electrified and has both passive and active response and detection systems. Active response consists of anti-personnel mines and border pickets with armed troops while the passive response consists of motion sensors, UAVs and other devices which might not stop an infiltrator but will send signals to a control room if the fence is breached. The same is communicated to the headquarters of forces in the area to investigate and take action appropriately to terminate the threat. So even if the troops are not present during the breach of the fence, a three-tiered system swings into action to isolate the infiltrator by tracking him down before he reaches a major urban area where it becomes difficult to detect and terminate the threat. The first level consists of the Army unit whose area of responsibility the fence comes under, the second tier is the units beyond the immediate area which the infiltrator will move into and third is the civil forces and intelligence units in the nearby vicinity. Over the last decade, insurgency has been suppressed through a combination of effective and sometimes brutal military crackdown and a series of political carrots rolled out to the Kashmiri people. The conflict still continues to simmer between the two countries via the Indian Security and Intelligence services and Pakistani intelligence and its proxy groups like LET and JEM along with a handful of Kashmir-based but Pakistan-trained insurgents. Since majority of militants were not local Kashmiris but Pakistanis, they tended to have no permanent homes in the valley. It was common for them to spend a night in a sympathiser’s house in a village. It was also common for some of the local insurgents to come to the villages and spend a night in their homes or stay with family and friends while passing through an area. Sometimes they came into villages for nothing else but to procure rations and supplies. The security forces tried to catch them before they left a village in the early hours of the morning. The operation involved cordoning off a village and then searching it thoroughly for insurgents. It is a set-piece part of any counter-insurgency operation and deployed widely over large swathes of conflict zones across the world.
Operation ‘Fox-Hunt’ Page 4