Time to rationalise...

Criticality of VIP security notwithstanding, nowhere in the world anti-terror special forces are used for VIP protection duties except in india, writes Pathikrit Payne

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Meet Anil Kumar (name changed), hailing from a central paramilitary force of India, it was last year when Anil was finally selected to join the elite NSG or National Security Guard on deputation. His eyes had then glowed at the very thought of wearing the black uniform and be part of one of the world’s best anti-terror units. The high rejection rates of 70-75% notwithstanding, Anil scalped through all hurdles to emerge as a toughened commando ready for any eventuality. Yet when 26/11 happened last year, the likes of him were not given the clarion call for duty. It was the chaps from army in NSG who handled it on their own while many like him, in spite of wearing the coveted black uniform, having the same rigours of training, were engaged in roles of VIP protection from the very beginning. As a professional, for him duty is duty but deep inside a few unanswered questions like ‘why are the army chaps never put to VIP protection duty or why men like him are never assigned works in the likes of 26/11 hostage rescue operations, hurts and haunts him. For, he at heart knows there’s nothing that an Army chap in NSG does, which he cannot.

At a time when India’s Defence Minister himself stated in the Parliament that Indian Army faces a shortage of a staggering 11,387 officers, the decision of the Government of India to augment the strength of NSG by 10,904 personnel has put the Army in a quandary. The reason being that the Army which already deputes more than 4,000 of its personnel to NSG and is hard-pressed with its deployments in Rashtriya Rifles in J&K and Assam Rifles in Northeast, would necessarily have to provide the lion’s share of the augmented strength. But if the Government of India can steer clear of the recent controversy over the withdrawal of NSG security to several VVIPs and thus give the Home Ministry the green signal to completely relieve NSG of VIP protection duty, it would give NSG an estimated 2,400 more personnel for anti-terror operations. In fact that is the estimated number of personnel from NSG who are involved in the protection of 20 VVIPs of India. Sources in Home Ministry state that 2,400 is perhaps good enough to take care of 10 Indian cities (without any further addition to the strength of NSG) given the fact that the standard procedure now is to deploy 240 personnel for each critical city. Or else, given the fact that each of the two upcoming hubs in Kolkata and Hyderabad are supposed to have 5,000 NSG personnel, this 2,400 would be good enough to take care of at least half the requirements of any of the two upcoming hubs without any additional recruitments. It would also help in reducing the gestation period that the NSG is expecting it would need to set up the regional hubs and additional centres in Jodhpur and Guwahati. For the uninitiated NSG is essentially divided into two groups namely the Special Action Group (SAG) and the Special Rangers Group (SRG). While the personnel of SAG are on deputation from the Army, the personnel of SRG are essentially taken from the central paramilitary forces like CISF, ITBP, CRPF, BSF and SSB. The SAG, divided into 51 SAG and 52 SAG, is primarily meant for anti-terror and anti-hijacking operations while the SRG was meant to give the necessary support systems (like isolating the target) to the operations conducted by SAG. But SRG over the years have been severely burdened with VIP security duty. Eventually SAG started conducting all anti-terror operations on its own without any assistance from SRG (which happened during 26/11 operations also). Sources on condition of anonymity state that part of the blame also has to be with the Army which tends to maintain a clear demarcation between the army manned SAG and paramilitary manned SRG. Despite this, many in Home Ministry involved with internal security state that technically both SAG and SRG are equal to the task and thus SRG can easily supplement or even substitute SAG in manning critical cities for anti terror operations. In fact plans are afoot to send a combined team, instead of an SAG team, next time to handle any terrorism related emergency. Thus, these 2,400 personnel of SRG, if relieved of VIP duty, can really become a windfall for NSG for permanent deployment in critical cities and give a breather to the army at a time when it is facing a shortage of manpower. A former IPS officer who was involved with NSG states, ' This becomes even more critical because 26/11 exposed the appalling condition of security preparedness of Indian states and thus India needs to have NSG presence in almost all major cities at the earliest.' Incidentally each of the paramilitary forces under Union Home Ministry like ITBP, BSF, CRPF or CISF has their own specialised commando units. So what was proposed by Home Ministry, (before everything came to a naught due to the ruckus created in the Parliament) was that the specialised commando units of CISF (known as SSG) and ITBP, which are especially trained in VIP security duty should completely take over the VIP protection duty and relieve NSG so that it can concentrate on anti-terror operations. But perhaps the moot question that is bothering many is that if NSG is completely relieved of its VVIP protection duty and it is replaced by central paramilitary forces like the ITBP or CISF, would it in anyway compromise the quality of security? Well, the matter of the fact incidentally is that even now they are protected by the personnel from the same paramilitary forces like CISF or ITBP or CRPF who are on deputation in NSG and generally go back to their mother organisations after a stint 3-5 years in NSG. Incidentally, for the quite sometime the border guarding duties of the ITBP or the Into Tibetan Border Police have been supplemented with VIP protection duties. So, while NSG provides security to 20 VIPs, another 12 VIPs who have the Z-plus cover are provided security by ITBP. Therefore if NSG is relieved of its VIP protection duties, for the likes of ITBP it would not be a daunting task to take it up in its entirety. On many an occasion ITBP has been preferred by the government over others when it came to critical security duties. Currently it has more than 400 personnel in Afghanistan to protect the Indian embassy and consulates and was there to give cover to Border Roads Organisation when it was constructing the Zaranj-Delaram highway project. At the peak of LTTE threat in Sri Lanka, all through the 80’s and 90’s, the security of the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka was the responsibility of ITBP. In the recent past when Mumbai Police was suspecting an assassination attempt on Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist of 26/11, it not only sought for central forces but preferred ITBP over the rest. Today several platoons of ITBP take care of the security of Kasab at Arthur Road Jail. Incidentally, for ITBP the VIP protection duty is such a critical part of its overall responsibility that ITBP has its own Anti Terrorist & VIP Protection Commando Course in its academy in Mussoorie which, according to security experts, is to be one of the toughest to pass.

Ironically the case of CISF is even stranger. In fact the issue of relieving of NSG from VIP protection duty is not a new one. In 2002 the Group of Ministers of the then NDA Government had recommended the gradual phasing out of the NSG from VIP protection duty duly to be replaced by CISF. For that purpose CISF raised a separate unit namely the Special Security Group or the SSG. Its personnel came to be known as Black Panthers because of their formation sign in contrast to the NSG personnel commonly known as Black Cats. Even though the initial plan was to raise three exclusive battalions, it was restricted to one. Today the SSG unit of CISF, with its headquarter in Greater Noida, has around 1,200 personnel specially trained in VIP protection and armed with sophisticated weapons like the MP5K-PDW. Yet, as is the case with most good plans in India, the convenient part was taken up but the bitter part was left behind. SSG was raised for good but it never replaced NSG. That part of the plan was conveniently shelved. Today the SSG is used to provide security to those whose lives are considered endangered by the Home Ministry but not considered fit for an NSG cover. This list today includes 40 people including senior scientists of ISRO and the likes of Manipur Chief Minister. Incidentally in the case of both SSG of CISF as well as ITBP, the rigors of their respective commando trainings are considered to be at par with that of NSG. And personnel from both (CISF and ITBP) are not only on deputation to NSG but also in the Special Protection Group (SPG), which takes care of Prime Minister’s security.

Talking to TSI, Rohit Katiyar, the chief spokesman for the CISF stated, “As and when the government gives us go ahead, we are ready for newer assignments. We are already providing security to VIPs since 2003. Major General (Retd) Dipankar Banerjee of IPCS, himself a veteran of several anti-terror operations during his tenure in army stated, “VIP security is no less important but for that properly trained paramilitary units can be directly involved instead of anti-terror forces like NSG".

NSG was essentially inspired by the success of the German special anti-terror unit namely GSG-9, the SAS of UK or the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) of FBI of the US. But none of them have the additional burden of VIP protection duty. Sources on condition of anonymity state, ‘India is probably the only country in the world where a dedicated anti-terror unit raised under an act of parliament has been conveniently used for personal security and for the aura that comes with it. In certain cases security cover given is far more than what is required.’ Course correction in this regard was long overdue. It was expected that in the post 26/11 period many things would change. But perhaps it would take much more than the endeavour of Home Minister P. Chidambaram to set the house right. Is India staring at a few more 26/11 like incidents before sanity returns?