Surprise was key element of Operation Mouse Trap
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 7
The name of Operation Mouse Trap does not ring a bell. But for veterans of the National Security Guards (NSG) it has gone down into history as the elite force’s longest deployment and most unconventional action that paid rich dividends during anti-terrorist operations in Punjab.
Over 15 years later, a former NSG officer re-called the six-month-long virtually unknown operation undertaken in the hinterland of Punjab which helped eliminate top terrorists, thereby paving the way for peace and normalcy in the state.
“What was unusual about the operation was that we used to reconnoiter the land during day to select appropriate sites and lay ambushes at night, using minimum strength,” Mr Rakesh Chander, who was then an NSG team leader, said. “We operated with almost no intelligence input and were totally dependent on our own surveys,” he added.
After Cabinet approval for deployment of the NSG was accorded in early 1990, three squadrons comprising about 400 commandos underwent intensive training to orient themselves for operations in a rural and built-up environment, night navigation and long range patrolling.
“We used to identify spots for laying ambushes while travelling on vehicles during the day but return to the particular spot on foot only after several days just in case our vehicles had been spotted in the area,” he said. “We kept the team strength minimum to avoid detection,” he added. A 1984-batch CRPF officer, he is now expecting a posting as a Deputy-Inspector General with the Punjab Police.
The NSG was deployed from Amritsar to Asal Uttar and there was an engagement with terrorists every second day. The commandos used to carry out operations only between 6 pm and 6 am. “What was remarkable about Mouse Trap was that we adopted tactics not laid down in the book. Surprise was our key element,” Mr Chander said. Unlike normal operations requiring a show of force and quick surgical strikes, it was a game of patience and stealth.
Like all military operations, this too had its share of surprises and unexpected turns. The most significant was an arduous 48-hour long encounter with six hard core terrorists on whose hide-out an NSG team stumbled upon during a reconnoiter. The terrorists were cleaning their weapons atop a house, when one of them saw NSG vehicles and opened fire.
As commandos took position, the terrorists slithered down and ran into a field. An intense cross-fire started and re-enforcements, including the CRPF, were called-in. Dug up field and water channels provided good cover to the terrorists and finally the cordoned-off field had to be pounded with mortars to neutralise them. “They knew escape was impossible and fought to the end,” Mr Chander said.
Another time, the black-clad stalkers were themselves spotted and fired upon while proceeding to an ambush site. As firing began, police personnel at a nearby post too opened up. CRPF and NSG teams were rushed up and they too began firing and nobody knew who was firing at whom. “Finally through radio co-ordination it emerged that the terrorists had slipped away and were firing at each other,” he said. Though nobody was hurt, one of the NSG vehicles had 24 hits.
Having undertaken operations in Punjab as well as Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Chander was of the opinion that terrorists in Punjab were more hardcore than those in Kashmir. “In Punjab they used to fight back more ferociously, perhaps because most of them were drug addicts and used to operate under intoxication. Kashmiri terrorists also put up a fight, but they break quickly,” he added.
