Book details how crack team was sent after Paraolon ambush
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI

New Delhi, September 28 2017: An elite team of the Army which was waiting to take a special flight to South Sudan for UN peacekeeping duties was called back to carry out the strike on a North East rebel hideout inside Myanmar in 2015, says a new book .

The Army chose its best force trained for counter- insurgency and jungle warfare, the 21 Para (Special Forces), based in Jorhat and directly reporting to the Eastern Command, writes Nitin A Gokhale in “Securing India the Modi Way: Pathankot, Surgical Strikes and More” .

On June 5, 2015, a group of North East rebels ambushed and killed 18 soldiers of an Infantry battalion of the Army in Manipur’s Chandel district bordering Myanmar .

The top authorities decided to hit back and a detailed plan was made .

The then Army Chief General Dalbir Singh said he would personally go to Imphal, take stock of the situation, discuss with the local formation commander (the GoC 3 Corps) and then order a strike .

“He also knew that a team of 21 Para (SF) were waiting in Delhi to take a special flight to South Sudan since they had been selected to go on the UN deployment.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Army Chief ordered them to get back to base in the North East,” the book says .

“The UN deployment could wait I reckoned.

Their first task is to conduct special operations.

To the credit of the team, no one complained.

On the contrary, they saw this as a chance to prove themselves on home ground,” the book quotes Gen Dalbir as saying .

He himself was supposed to fly to London to participate in week-long celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the Gorkha regiment in the British Army.

But he put on hold his visit after he heard of the ambush .

The Special Forces were to hit two camps across the border in Myanmar.

“One of them was a large camp, with a capacity to harbour over 200 cadres, while the other was normally used to shelter between 50 and 60 militants of different groups,” the book says .

The bigger camp had already been under surveillance for some time but the only issue was that it was inside another country .

“In our contingency planning at 3 Corps, we already had all the required coordinates and details of the bigger camp .

The only issue was : It was inside Myanmar.

A call needed to be taken if we were prepared to cross into another country’s territory and attack the camp,” recalls Gen Bipin Rawat, the then General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 3 Corps .

Finally, a decision was taken to hit the large camp .

“During discussions, we were told that the Government wanted to send a message: that if you hit us here, we can hit wherever we want,” the book quotes a Special Forces officer, who eventually led the main raid, as saying .

The South Sudan-bound team made its way back to Imphal by June 5 evening .

“Instead of going abroad by air, we are going to another country (Myanmar) on foot,” the book quotes one of the team members as saying jocularly .

The team got help on knowledge of the terrain from some Kuki jawans and a group of Myanmarese hunters looking for game .

The mission was accomplished with precision .

According to the team leader, around 80 rebels were killed though they did not stop to count the casualties .

The book, published by Bloomsbury, also details several aspects of the planning and execution of last year’s surgical strikes, revamping of New Delhi’s policy towards China and Pakistan and India’s renewed global policy focus on Middle East.

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