| Font Size |
A day after P Chidambaram took over as the Union Home Minister, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, Intelligence Bureau Director P C Haldar and Maharashtra Director General of Police A K Roy met in his chamber to discuss the Mumbai terror attacks. Roy is said to have told them that the public was “extremely angry” and that India should militarily retaliate against Pakistan in order to teach them a lesson.
Later that evening, the top bureaucrats, without the minister, assembled again in Gupta's room. With the NSA listening, Roy asked Haldar why the November 20 intelligence alert on a Lashkar-e-Toiba ship, given to the Coast Guard and Naval Headquarters, was not passed on to the Mumbai Police. Haldar bluntly replied that the Mumbai Police could do nothing on the high seas, clearly indicating that the Navy and the Coast Guard had failed to deliver.
The alerts sent by the IB in the past three years to the Mumbai Police and the action taken were again discussed threadbare at a meeting in Nagpur on December 19 between Roy, newly sworn in Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and State Home Minister Jayant Patil. There was concurrence on the need to have a high-level inquiry, which could be headed by R D Pradhan, who was home secretary under former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, with V Balachandran, former special secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing, and Ajit Nimbalkar, former Maharashtra chief secretary, as members.
What is evident in the flurry of meetings, from New Delhi to Nagpur, is the growing realisation that on November 26 night, all systems that could have prevented a 26/11 failed.
INTELLIGENCE
Even on the morning of 26/11, a communication asking for activation of 10 SIM cards was picked up by the R&AW on the Bangladesh border. Intelligence agencies failed to decipher its significance. At 9.21 pm, the attack began
IB chief Haldar and his R&AW counterpart Ashok Chaturvedi failed to act on the top-secret alert (see the scanned document below) sent to then Maharashtra DG P S Pasricha on November 20, 2007. Haldar wrote to Pasricha that reliable inputs indicated that the LeT was planning a major terrorist strike and the action might involve “fidayeen attack, stand-off firing and use of grenades”. Even though the exact target had not been disclosed, he added, the operation could involve taking hostages. Asking the DG to sensitise his officers, Haldar promised to revert “as soon as” more information was available. Even as Special Director, Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), Haldar had written to Pasricha on August 7, 2006, and given details of specific targets in Maharashtra.
However, Haldar never reverted back to Pasricha, despite the promise, till four days after the Marriot Hotel bombing in Islamabad. On September 20, 2008, Joint Director (MAC) IB Ashok Prasad alerted the Maharashtra DG (the scanned document on top) that the LeT was planning an attack in Mumbai and identified Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Vallabbhai Patel Stadium, Sea Rock or Taj Land's End Hotel, Mumbai Juhu airfield and JW Marriot Hotel as likely targets.
The scene now shifted to Delhi and the US, through established intelligence channels, alerted R&AW Joint Secretary A K Dashmana in a November 18, 2008, meeting that an LeT ship was trying to infiltrate into Indian waters. It also gave latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of the vessel. This input was passed on to the IB for dissemination to the respective agencies. Joint Director Prabhakar Alok forwarded the input to the Naval Headquarters and the Coast Guard for action.
While the Naval Headquarters never passed on the intelligence to its sword-arm, the Western Navy, the Coast Guard launched a search for the suspected LeT vessel on November 21 dawn. As the provided coordinates by the US Intelligence put the vessel 20-30 miles south of Karachi, the Coast Guard never found the ship. Its officers not only wrote a letter to IB Joint Director Alok but also called him up in a bid to get more intelligence. Alok promised to revert, but like his boss never did.
Even on the morning of 26/11, a communication asking for activation of 10 SIM cards was picked up by the R&AW on the Bangladesh border. Intelligence agencies failed to decipher its significance. At 9.21 pm, the attack began, with Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan opening fire at the CST Terminus. The Mumbai Police top brass was at the time making their way to Oberoi Trident to attend a wedding.
POLICE
A price was paid for the division of authority between the Mumbai Police Commissioner, who was absent from the command centre, and the DG, who is in-charge of the state but not the city
Almost around the same time, there was another high-level meeting on at another place in the city. The then Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, DG Roy and the then state Home Minister R R Patil were discussing the sensitive Malegaon blast investigation. Around 9 pm, they called it a day. Karkare called up home to say he would be back in time for dinner, while Roy left to pick up his wife for the Trident wedding.
While they were on their way to the hotel, Roy got a call from a friend at Masala Kraft restaurant in the Taj Palace Hotel saying that there was firing outside. The DG immediately alerted DCP (Zone I) Vishwas Nagre Patil to reach the spot and take control as it could be gang warfare. The friend again called up, and this time the DG could hear the continuous burst of fire on the phone. Roy decided to give up the plan to go to the wedding and returned to the headquarters. Here all top state officials except that of the Mumbai Police were watching the action on TV in his room, along with Home Minister Patil.
Roy called up the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s control room, only to find that Joint Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria handling the operations and Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor were not there. By now, reports of firing were pouring in from CST Terminus, Cama Hospital, Taj Palace, Nariman House and Trident Hotel. With Gafoor parked inside his car outside the Trident, the command and control of Mumbai Police response had collapsed, with few ready to take orders from Maria and Roy not in charge of the city.
The city and the country paid heavily for the division of authority between the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the DG on that day as the two for the past decade have had a separate police communication network, budget and operational control. Even the annual confidential report of the Mumbai Police Commissioner is written by State Additional Chief Secretary and not by the State DG.
The decision to withdraw AK-47 assault rifles from the police inspectors, taken by Roy as Mumbai Police Commissioner three years ago, also proved disastrous. All that the Mumbai Police had in response to the LeT's artillery was assault fire and grenades of World War II vintage, .303 Lee Enfield rifles, .38 bore revolvers, 9 mm pistols and lathis.
Only Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte had got an AK-47 issued from police armoury that day. When he came face to face with the terrorists along with encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Karkare, he fired twice at Kasab but missed narrowly. Not wearing the state-of-the-art bullet-proof headgear he had got from Kosovo, he was shot dead along with his two colleagues. It was around midnight that Maria and Roy realised the situation had got out of control. Maharashtra Chief Secretary Johny Joseph was requested to seek commandos and the NSG for help.
Given the cost of the breakdown of coordination that day, the state Government is now mulling putting the Mumbai Police Commissioner under the direct control of the state DG. This was given in-principle clearance at the meeting in Nagpur last week, but will become operational only after the three-member inquiry committee has submitted its report.
So, on 26/11, barring constable Tukaram Omble, who took Kasab’s five bullets in his chest to arrest him, and a handful of officers, the Mumbai Police was found woefully wanting. This set the stage for the Army, Naval Commandos (MARCOS) and the NSG to enter the theatre of operations.
ARMY, NAVY AND NSG
Marcos first refused to enter the hotels without state authorisation, then claimed to have killed two terrorists inside Taj within hours of starting operations. That information was totally false
The first to be called for commando help was Mumbai Sub-Area Commander Major General R K Hooda, who in turn informed the Maharashtra Government that he did not have any Army commandos with him. So what the public saw in the early hours were only Army footsoldiers on peripheral duties and not crack troops.
On November 26 midnight, Joseph called up Western Naval Commander J S Bedi for marine commandos as well as NSG Director J K Dutt in Delhi. It took another two hours for MARCOS to finally arrive. Although the Navy denies it, MARCOS refused to enter the Taj or Trident without written authorisation from the state Government. After the matter was sorted, two columns (seven each) of MARCOS entered the Taj and the Trident complexes. With the NSG team headed by a Brigadier still on its way, having had to arrange an IL-76 aircraft from Chandigarh to fly them and then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, the MARCOS made it officially known that they had killed two terrorists at the Taj complex between 4-4.30 am.
This information was totally false and it is still not clear whether the MARCOS engaged the enemy directly on that day. The NSG landed at 4.20 am on November 27 and took over the operation at 9 am as the MARCOS refused to function under the NSG Brigadier. In fact Army and Navy officers further complicated matters by going live on TV channels while the fire-fight was on. Southern Army Commander Noble Thamburaj talked about a dozen terrorists being present in the Taj to the media even though he had no direct knowledge of the operations. General Hooda, the Sub-Area Commander, played to the gallery while the MARCOS projected itself as Rambo.
Neither did NSA Narayanan, who was out at a party that fateful day, nor the then chief minister took matters in their control. Shivraj Patil was in Mumbai only for a few hours during which he announced that terrorists had run away. A month after the Mumbai massacre, during which IB operational chief D K Sinha and R&AW Joint Secretary J S Khanna were in constant touch, a number of questions remain unanswered:
• Identity of the local contacts of the terrorists who helped the LeT identify the targets, including Nariman House? Past three year records of all the Taj and Trident Hotel employees have revealed nothing.
• Is there an al-Qaeda link to the Lashkar attack as for the first time Jews were slaughtered?
• Identity and location of the controller talking to the two Taj Palace terrorists? The controller virtually gave away his location when the terrorist asked him, “Wahan kitne baaje hain?” The VOIP call was traced to West Virginia and then lost.
• Were there 15 terrorists in total with five following up in another boat? The hunt is still on. The track back device in the used GPS was set for K T Bandar near Karachi.
• Who is the owner of ship Al Hussaini?
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
Shishir... i think you should get your facts right specially about the MARCOS and NSG... or switch to page 3 writing!
It reflects any intelligence agency... Even the U.S's. It took a tragic happening like 9/11 to cause intelligence executives to even consider change or improvement. It is even more tragic that this is not the first major incident... there was a train bombing months before that killed more than 100 people. Every country needs to realize that the infrastructure of the government and intelligence systems are not indestructible and of miniscule matter. A phrase that countries these days should be shouting every breathing moment is, "Let's be proactive!"
pls put this article in priority as this is best available on Mumbai carnage.finding great difficulty to trace this article.pls try to include all replies as this will help to bring consensous among like minded people.many of my friends has replied for this article bur not able to find it as it may sound true and polittically incorrect.be brrave...
Fantastic work Shishir! Really appreciate this article. Eagerly awaiting more well written and researched articles from you. It will be really nice if you can keep at it and report on the investigations as well as the actual ground situation with respect to the steps taken to reform the police and other securtiy agencies responsible for Mumbai and Maharashtra.
The institution of state police in our country is defunct. Our intelligence bureau has failed miserably. Track record of our CBI in bringing the culprits to book is dismal.The rot has also been set into the CPMFs, INCLUDING THE NSG.All these agencies have definite and exclusive roles for themselves. However, there is a common thread running between them. The IPS. Each one of these agencies is headed by an IPS officer. Infact, the entire decision making lies in the hands of IPS in these organisations in an absolute manner.Politicisation and degradation of the IPS is a reality today. They display remarkable flexibilty and go to any depths to please their political masters.They get simply transformed in to dildos - lifeless, flexible things that vibrate only to please their political masters! Its no surprise then that EVERY THING THAT IS HEADED BY THE IPS IS A DISASTER TODAY.Any attempt to sanitise the security network in India should begin with disbanding of the dildos heading these.
howler U are right.now UPSC should include in their Advt. that any person joining elite IPS,IFS DIES in the course of the service then he is entitled for Gallantry award(not less than Ashok chakra).it is not important the deceased person died without firing single bullet ,or,exemplery gallant action because by the virtue of qulifying civil service entitled them with renaissance blood.it is not important for them to do the mandatory courses as required for their counterparts in paramilitary forces.the DG of any of the paramilitary or NSG as ever took pain to do the mandatory commando courses/map reading courses/or any courses where physical is required.this is the bane for this forces as our political mandarin is not qulified enough to understand what is good or bad for the leaders to give worthy command.i remember once OPS PARAKRAM was going own then one of the IPS officer was not able to understand the basic terminology and therefore undergone map reading course in jaisalmer.what respect this officers can earn from their peers.THEY CAN SERVE IN THE COMFORT OF THE A.C AND CAN BE CATEGORISED AS MOST EDUCATED BUT LEAST EFFECTIVE POLICE FRATENNITY IN THE WORLD.
Yes we have made mistakes and committed criminal errors, but atleast we live in a society and a culture that is willing to admit its mistakes, that is willing to investigate and at least make an attempt to fix what went wrong. If Pakistan territory was still a part of this country, we would not even be able to accomplish this much. It was traumatic and difficult, but thank god for partition. Thank god that delusional scum next door is no longer part of our family and thank god that we can hold our heads up in this world as a society that at least TRIES to do the right thing.
The Maharastra DG Pasricha should be sacked immediately, for not taking precautionary steps, even after he was alerted by multiple agencies. He was even given names of the specific targets (like Taj and Marriot Hotels) !!.
Please provide the reference to a published story where Marcos claimed two kills? The press brief does not claim two kills but presence of terrorists. Shishir gupta must either provide evidence or retraction.
we were all critical about the role of politicians and made them to pay but now nation want to know what action is been taken to real stake holders who were responsible for gaurding the country.The role of armed forces was really pathetic and Marcos should be disbanded.they were shameless to give T.V interview about the operation when their role is in cloud.I as a civilian feeded on commondo operations in movies(based on real stories)was astonished by the movement of Marcos and NSG AROUND the hotel which we all had seen in the TV.it is high time to know that our Army is not been trained to elimnate 04 militants inTAJ.Nation has the right to know that when this Army can't stand to this sizable militants then how can they face war.The same happend during Kargil abression(not war)and our Army and media had taken to a ride and our young officers' paid with the life.Now i want to ask the questions that when IB HAS GIVEN a 90% authetic information then how come NAVY AND COAST GUARD fail
We all say Pakistan is a failed state.The fact is:WE ARE A FAILED STATE..We are a bunch of jokers, a ntion where noone does his job well, the only job we do well is pointing fingers at others.The folks who do their job well, the oumble's, karkare's unnikrishnans salaskars, kamtes meet the death in this nation.Nsa is a joke, this joker was parying when women were being stripped tortured and killed.Marcos were boasting of their heroics when they cldnt killl one of the terrorists, spineless jerks.We are a 99% failed state. 1% who are not failures are destined to die like unnikrishnans.Being nuked by pakistan wldnt be tht bad a thing after all, atleast we will not be striped of our respect every second month.
The real failure of intelligence lies not in the concerned agencies not being able to get advance information of the terrorist attack, but in their crude efforts to protect their jobs by leaking sensitive information to the Press. The publication of secrets documents and the location of the intercept stations (Bangladesh border), is a clear violation of the Official Secrets Act. I hope the Government takes cognizance of this. It is clear that R
The damage has already been done and maryrs born. But we need to dipassionately examine the role played by each of the policeman, commando etc who were on duty or put into action. Unfortunately Karkare is not being assessed for the action on that night. He isa hero or a villain for the investigations in Malegaon blasts. How did these five police personnel, who had gone out in search of terrorists and were fully armed and also protected got killed like sitting ducks. The nation is also being emotionally exploited due to their death. They have been recommended for Ashok Chakra without judging whether any bravery was displayed in action. If death is the only criteria, all 180 killed that night should be recommended. Otherwise failures should be assigned to each along with the achievements, whether dead or alive. Only that can save the nation from future disasters.
I agree with you Sir. My question is why top Mumbai officers are called Martyrs when they did'nt do anything. Why Ashok Chakra should be conferred on them.Just because they were top cops does'nt mean that they should be honoured. Instead confer such honours on Unnikrishnan and other such officers who laid down their lives fighting terrorists and saving people.
pls educate our media that they should be educated enough to understand dying without exhibiting proper leadership and pushing the nation to brink of war.here one is IPS amounts to qulifying for gallantry for nothing.we require functional police officers who should not command by remote control.it is high time that our politician and reporter are educated enough to understand how world police functions and isn't it high time the police officers in IPS rank should be enrolled after class 12 like NDA,COMPULSURY COMMANDO COURSES,IF THEY WANT TO BECOME DG OF ANY PARAMILITARY FORCE THEN ATLEAST THEY SHOULD DO ALL MANDATORY COURSES/COMPULSARY TENURE IN THRESOLD OF THEIR CAREER,tenure in J
At the time of the the terrorist attack on Mumbai, it was confusion worse confounded. No one was in charge. Everything was adhoc. Now everyone is passing the buck by claiming that he had done his part of the job and it iwas the other one who had failed. The truth is that there was no earnestness before the event, just casualness. During the attack the country paid a high price and after the event, the post mortem should have put the guilty on the mat but alas thanks to an indolent government all of them are moving free and may move up. The threat remains and incompetence reigns supreme.
These guys are just going to talk and do nothing. They are just waiting for things to cool and people forget the incidents. Parliament and politicians are talking about KAKARE and few other police men deaths. Have they ever highlighted about the others who have died. Answers is BIG -NO. Why wait for U.S
wrong are the basic characteristics imbibed in our leaders and govt servants. how many ias
Instead of taking action on an incompetent National Security Advisor, Chief of RAW and IB a stupid, indolent Home Minister was booted out. The same security bosses continue till another disaster!!!
We Indians electing the UPA at centre in 2003 was the only thing that went wrong for all attacks that happened on India after that. No point in blaming the politicians and administration. Even after Delhi having the highest crime record, even after UPA ministers raising doubts on martyrs like M C Sharma, why did the people elect Congress? And if one more blast happens in Delhi, who should you blame, Shiela Dixit or the voters? Just wake up dear fellow Indians.
Atleast the officials know their mistake now and hope they avoid it next time.As there is no turning back, we cant change what's happened.
Sad reading. Can you tell us who's the leader here? Can you believe Mumbai Police was once considered on par with the Scotland Yard in its investigative and oerational work? The politics of it all, the politics of corruption, and the politics of appeasement has taken its severe toll! The Ghost of Malegaon will haunt us all to the bitter end! Scary reading, actually! These guys are paid a king's ransom to do their job and to do it properly. Can we demand a forfieture of their salaries and perks??? Now we know the Dy. CM/Home Minister watched it all on TV, when he was free from discussing the Malegaon probe; the CM went AWOL; and who were the poor guys the MARCOS team declared killed on the first day in place of the terrorists? You think Hollywood may be permitted to make a spoof of this spoof?
THE PROBLEM IS , IT WAS NOT AINTELLEGENCE FAILURE, IT WAS TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE,HOW CAN SUCH A BIG MISHAP HAPPEN, THE SO CALLED POLICE,NAVY , COAST GAURD,POLITICIANS,THE IAS, ALL FAILED TO DELIVER,THERE IS NO SYSTEMATIC REPORTING.WHAT IF ONE CONSIDERS THE NECESSARY STEPS WOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN , BUT CAN YOU FIGHT THE GRENADES
The stated approach is due to lack of accountabaility. Non of our high level officers or politicians are punished for their negligence or incompetency. Because of their high profile, they get free from whatever they do. Political parties support them. Take example of Prohit, Pratigya, etc. Terrorists are more intelligent and better organized then our beurocrats.
What a shame. I have never been able to understand what gives these beaurocrats and govt officials the right to be so shamelessly unprofessional. That too when there are innocent lives at stake.
if this is the way our intelligence and defence establishments perform in a national calamity, the current and future home ministers have their work cutout to set the house in order. given the way politics and bureaucracy function, is there any hope for the future?
Excellent reporting. It shows the in depth investigation. BRAVO
From the time Chdambaram has taken over home ministry , he is quiet, only Pranav M is talking and talking shit.he said all the option the option are open, and they brought in the army, he planned to bring Kasab to media , Pakis arrested Someone and planned the same.He thought US/Interpol will help him, they are suddenly quiet now.Thats it - Mumbai blasts have gone to dustbin,till other blast happens.