Operation ‘Fox-Hunt’ (4 page)

Colonel Khan had been attached to the SS directorate for many years. His last operational assignment had been planning and execution of an attack on Indian-controlled guest houses in Kabul. An SSG commando, Khan loved the cloak-and-dagger assignments. He also thought it gave him visibility with people who mattered. He was a young Major during the Kargil conflict and a veteran of Afghan intrigues. He had a deep scar running along the left side of his face ending at the tip of his ear. It gave his otherwise handsome face a sinister shadow. In August 1998, Bill Clinton ordered an attack using Tomahawk cruise missiles on a terrorist camp run by the Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It was America’s retaliation against the bombing of US embassies in Africa. Bin Laden, the intended target, was not present. But the attack led to deaths of three ISI agents and a few Kashmiri militants. There were four ISI agents present in the camp that day. One escaped, though hit in the side of his face by debris churned up by the explosions. Colonel Khan never had the scar removed. For him it was a trophy. He subconsciously touched
the scarred side of his face as he took to the podium to explain the basics of the operation.

“Good morning, gentlemen, I will take you through the primary planning for the operation. Two cells of trained operatives of the LET would constitute the main assault team. Post training they would infiltrate into India through Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Nepal or Bangladesh and reach Mumbai where they will remain under cover. We are still identifying the routes. There is already a catchment of 15 AKS74U or AKSU rifles with additional ammunition and assorted explosives in Maharashtra which the ISI had arranged for through their contact in the Citizen’s Warrior Group, a communist Naxal organisation which we now have a liaison with through a false flag operation in Bangladesh. The AKSUs are untraceable to us. This would be taken to Pune by a resident ISI operative in India and deposited in a safe house until the team requires the weapons. The weapons are being transferred by a specially adapted fuel tanker with a secret compartment in the middle. We are in the process of identifying the teams and closing execution details.”

“Good job, Colonel Khan, excuse yourself and leave a copy of your report with my military secretary outside,” the COAS said. The conference was in a No Smoking Zone but the COAS lit up anyway. He was known to be a chain smoker and a man of quiet resolve. A graduate of PMA145th Long Course, he passed out in 1971 to see his beloved country torn asunder and the army in disheartening defeat; he never forgot and never forgave. His earlier assignments included a posting as Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), Corps Commander and a host of field and staff assignments.

Turning to the Brigadier, the COAS said, “What is the time frame you are looking at to execute Shamshir
?
Brief us on that. What is the level of preparation of the Fedayeen? Take us through some more details.”

“There is a team of 20 operators presently training at the LET training camp in Muridke. We will select the final team as per the reports from the directing staff officers present at the training camp. There is also a team of ten LET men who have been trained to attack airfields, which is now based in Azad Kashmir. The team was set-up to attack the Avantipur airbase. But the attack on Mehran airfield in Karachi seemed to have forced the Indians to relook their own defences and our intelligence reports suggest that the level of preparedness is now too high on any of the frontline airfields to complete a successful operation. So the team is still waiting in Azad Kashmir,” Brigadier Hasan referred to the attack on the naval facility that had shaken the Pakistani security forces to the core and lost the Navy two of its reconnaissance aircrafts.

The COAS snorted derisively, “I hope our guys have bolted the stable doors now.” The ISI DG looked away, clearly embarrassed. None of the corps commanders were amused. The COAS was not looking for a comment either. He had banged the desks at the counter intelligence wing that night too.

Brigadier Hasan continued, “This particular lot had been trained by the PAF’s SSW, as the Squadron Leader touched upon earlier, but we will put them through a refresher module again. Like the Squadron Leader mentioned, a mock-up of the Pune airport had been created in the PAF base Mushaf (Sargodha) where the Muridke team would move for a seven-day crash course. Post the course, the ten selected operatives would move to Bangladesh or Nepal and make way to safe houses in Mumbai and Kolkata. We have a HUJI module which will take care of the logistics involved there. The plans may be tweaked to adapt to on-ground conditions.”

He was referring to Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), a Bangladesh-based militant organisation which ISI leveraged
often for its operations in north-eastern Indian insurgencies and also to open up links with some Maoist groups in India.

“The LET team in Azad Jammu Kashmir will cross over to the Indian side, avoid combat engagements with the enemy and be escorted to Jammu by the LET team in the valley. They will then travel independently to Mumbai on a specified date. None of the teams except the team leaders will know the date or target of the attack until 48 hours before. An assembly point has been acquired in the city for preparation before the final attack. The local liaison will be done through safe houses which have been procured through sleeper agents in the city, embedded a year back as a backup for any operation in Mumbai,” he concluded his presentation.

The COAS heard the briefing and closed the meeting with the comment, “Very good Brigadier, but make sure that the operation is led by a person who can execute this rather grandiose plan. We will meet again in two weeks. By then the men would be in India, I hope,” he raised an eyebrow and looked at the DG ISI. A message had been communicated; the DG nodded.

As they were dismissed, the DG ISI came up to the Brigadier and gave him a file. “Choose the commander and the deputy from this file only.” The Brigadier looked at the file and nodded his head in agreement.

2

Cherat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

B
rigadier Hasan’s staff car pulled up outside the gates which proclaimed in block letters, ‘Welcome to Cherat: The Eagle’s Nest’. He eyed the formation insignia of a bayonet with lightning bolts on both sides and a star in the centre surrounded by carvings of different regiment crests in stone. His chest always swelled with pride as he looked at the entrance to the headquarters of the Special Service Group (SSG), the elite special force of the Pakistani Army. The SSG had ten battalions and the training headquarters was this cantonment in a magnificent location in Cherat. Each battalion consisted of 700 men in four companies, with each company split into platoons and then into 10- man teams. Battalions were commanded by Lieutenant Colonels. Besides these, there were two independent commando companies: Musa Company−specialising in amphibious operations; Zarrar Company−specialising in counter-terrorism. These units are rotated regularly between Cherat, Attock, Pakistani Kashmir, Afghanistan border, UN missions and even special duties with friendly governments like Saudi Arabia. In fact, an SSG unit even took part in Operation Clean Wash with French forces to eliminate a group of terrorists in Mecca in 1979.

As he waited for a guard to check his documents and open the gate, Hasan looked around. A bunker with a mounted MG13 and grenade nets was on his left. Two more armed men with MP-5 submachine guns stared blankly at the car. The SSG had reasons to be leery. It had been a few years back that a vengeful suicide bomber had attacked an SSG unit in Tarbela killing 15 commandos. That had been a revenge attack for the operation in Islamabad. The operation had been carried out by the SSG’s Zarrar Battalion. Brigadier Hasan, then a Lieutenant Colonel, had commanded the task force. After the operation he had been posted at Cherat as a training officer.

The guard room sergeant came back with the papers, snapped to attention, clicked his heels and saluted. The other troops followed suit, the boom barrier went up and he was in a familiar place. It had been a hard drive up a twisting mountain road and the brigadier was looking forward to enjoying a quiet dinner later in the evening. The car pulled up before a block of offices. A young Lieutenant Colonel stepped out of the building and purposefully strode towards the car. Obviously the guard at the main gate had alerted the officer.

“Good morning, sir. I trust you had a good drive. I am Sharif, the intelligence officer here at the Centre. It’s an honour to have you here, sir,” the affable officer greeted Hasan.

“Fantastic drive, Colonel, thank you so much. Is General Hussain here too?” he asked referring to Major General Ali Hussain, the commander of the SSG. It was to him that Hasan had spoken from Rawalpindi.

“He is expecting you in the office.”

Hasan followed the Colonel into the complex. On the second floor, an orderly opened the door to the office. Hussain welcomed Hasan with a hearty handshake. “Well, well, what have we here, you have surely put on some weight…,” he quipped.

Hasan smiled, “And you, General, look tough as nails.” Colonel Sharif meanwhile took out two folders from his briefcase and passed them to Hasan.

“Sir, the files you requested, both officers were flown here yesterday for the briefing. I will have them come in as soon as you are ready.” Hasan faced the screen. The image was being projected from an overhead projector; Sharif was at the laptop clicking in commands. The slides had photographs, service records and annual confidential reports. The first slide had the name: Major Shezad Khan. Sharif began with the officer’s background.

Shezad’s family came from Islamabad. His father was a mid-level employee in the local transport office. His elder brother did the family proud by becoming a doctor and migrating to the US. Shezad went on to join the army and was commissioned at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad. He had an eventful year in the academy, passing out in the top three of his class. Commissioned into the 3rd Punjab regiment, the first two years saw him go through a series of courses and general battalion assignments. It was during this period that he underwent a course with the SSG personnel. He loved what he saw, volunteered for SSG and to no one’s surprise, was selected. He was shipped out to an SSG training unit in Cherat. Following his training he found himself posted with the 3rd Commando Powindah Battalion which was then posted in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

During the Kargil battle, Shezad led a platoon up the mountains to guide artillery fire on Indian positions. Posted in Mushko Valley, the first few days were heady as the Pakistani troops occupied and held the heights. His detachment was teamed up with a platoon of Northern Light Infantry (NLI). The troops were in good morale. It was in a few days that the euphoria peaked when they got news of the shooting down of
Indian fighters. Then the situation started changing as waves on waves of Mirage 2000D fighters bombed their positions. The 155mm Bofors howitzers blazed away all day. The SSG personnel waited patiently, for the enemy, they knew, would come; but many of the raw NLI troops lost their nerves and went crazy. The relentless rain of explosives never stopped. On the morning of 18 May, 1999, Shezad’s post came under the heaviest bombardment of the war and he suffered shrapnel wounds in his calf. Despite the pain and obvious discomfort, Shezad kept up the morale of his men. He realised that the bombardment was preceding an infantry charge. When the expected charge of the Indian infantry commenced, a wounded Shezad led his men in defending the post with minimum casualties. Shezad was evacuated to Skardu and then to the Combined Military Hospital, Islamabad. His exploits won him the Tamgha-i-Jurat, the fourth highest military award in Pakistan. After discharge in August 1999, he was posted in the 111 Brigade of the 10th Corp in the SSG detachment.

On 12 October, 1999, his platoon was charged with taking command of the control tower at Islamabad airport as General Musharraf’s plane came in for landing. His excellent handling of the situation saw him pick up the rank of a Major and add Sitara-e-Basalat to his medal row. In 2003, he was sent to the Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, USA where he finished at the top of his class. Coming back to Pakistan, Shezad went on a tour of duty with the SSW Air Force commandos. By the end of 2006, he found himself in a series of staff postings. He spent a year on attachment to ISI’s SS division in 2008 as an instructor. In 2009, he went for a tour of duty to Congo with the UN and returned to his parent unit. He was rotated back from the tour of duty the following year and posted with his new battalion, Zarrar Battalion in Balochistan. Later he was posted to the 4th
Commando Yalghar Battalion in Abbottabad. For the last three months, he had been training a group of ten LET militants for an attack on a military airfield. The force had been prepared for action in Indian Kashmir. Hasan discussed the file in detail with both the officers.

Finally, the General grunted his remark “Seems to be the right chap. Let’s see who our candidate is for second in command.”

The second file was that of a Squadron Leader Hamza. Hamza was from the northern areas and had joined the PAF as a pilot candidate. His father was a senior bureaucrat in the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) administration and young Hamza had spent most of his vacations in the rugged mountains. FANA was a part of Pakistani controlled Kashmir, now ruled directly from Islamabad, in fact from a certain office at Abapara junction. A top-rated athlete, Hamza was a shoo-in for the Air Force Academy. But at an inter squadron boxing match saw him at a receiving end of a right hook that damaged his sinuses slightly making him unfit for pilot training. A survival course with the SSG decided his further military career. After three years, he too had requested and joined the SSG. He had joined the 4th Commando Yalghar Battalion. That was where he had closely worked with Major Shezad as his second in command. He had also been involved in raising the SSW of the Air Force. After the SSW took shape, the young commando was transferred back to the PAF. The report claimed that he had been posted to Saudi Arabia as a ‘consultant’ for the royal family’s bodyguard. His training included stints with PLAs Chengdu military region’s ‘Falcon’ force and North Korean Special Operation Force (NKSOF) air components. His claim to fame was the operation against the partisans in Balochistan where his team carried out the assassination of a senior tribal leader. The report highlighted that he had been mentioned in dispatches
by the corps commander. A small handwritten note under the paragraph mentioned that it was his bullet that possibly killed the rebellious Nawab. He was presently training a team of especially tough LET commandos at Muridke.