How sending NSG to Pathankot blew up in India's face
India’s premier counter-terrorist force the National Security Guard (NSG) was deployed to neutralise between four and six terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airforce base on January 2. What is the NSG all about? The NSG is a special force, which means it has special weapons and tactics... it has firepower and its commandos are trained for specific tasks like storming hijacked aircrafts or neutralising terrorists who have captured buildings.
The force swoops in, rapidly carries out its operations and then departs. Time is of the essence in NSG operations. However, what we saw in Pathankot was that it took the NSG over three days to finally neutralise the six terrorists.
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One of the reasons for these delays was the failure to learn the lessons of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. In 2012, the home ministry prepared a plan to modernise the NSG and turn it into a special force and give it all the equipment to turn around within five years. It allotted over Rs 1,400 crore for this. This plan, however, still remains unimplemented over seven years after the attacks. It is a grievous lapse for which the price will be paid by the nation and our men in uniform.