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| India-Pakistan |
| Why did NSG take 9 hrs to get there? |
| 2008-11-30 |
| Sounds like a cross between a Keystone Cops movie and Indian bureaucracy at its finest. Not very confidence inspiring. The terrorists strike Mumbai at 9.30pm. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is in Kerala. He is briefed about the attack on the city’s prime locations. By the time Deshmukh grasps the enormity of the situation, 90 minutes have gone by. He rings Union home minister Shivraj Patil at 11pm and asks for NSG commandos. "How many men?" Patil asks. "200," says the CM. Patil calls NSG chief J K Dutt and tells him to send 200 battle-ready commandos to Mumbai. Most of the NSG men have to be roused from sleep. They don their uniforms, strap on safety gear, collect ammo and firearms. It is discovered that the only plane that can take 200 men, the IL 76, is not in Delhi but Chandigarh. Precious minutes are ticking by. The IL 76 pilot is woken, the plane refuelled. It reaches Delhi at 2am. By the time the commandos get in and the plane takes off, four-and-a-half hours have elapsed. Experts say that unless a response is mounted within 30 minutes of an attack, the enemy can assume key defensive positions. It takes the aircraft almost three hours to land at Mumbai airport. Unlike the Boeing and Airbus, IL 76 is a slow plane. By the time the NSG commandos board the waiting buses it is 5.25am. The buses take another 40 minutes to reach the designated place in south Mumbai where the commandos are briefed, divided into different groups and sent out on their mission. By the time they start their operation, it is 7am — in other words, nine-and-a-half hours after the terror strike. Many lives might have been saved had this delay not happened. The obvious question is why is the NSG stationed only in Delhi. When Indian cities are vulnerable to terror attacks, why is there no commando force like the NSG, or its units, in every city? |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 And the NSG took hours to arrive by Il-76 transport. The terrorists probably factored all of this in their planning. However Bombay is also the HQ of the Indian Navy's Western command and the location of the Abhimanyu Marine Naval Station, home of the Marine Commando Force. Were it not for the MARCOS, many more people may have died. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-11-30 19:37 |
| #5 Correct there Ali. I didn't take that into the consideration. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-11-30 15:13 |
| #4 Don't forget that the top 3 police officials in Mumbai were all killed at the start of the attack. Then the assailants neutralized the downtown police station. I'm sure this paralized the police and kept them from reacting faster or communicating with higher headquarters. |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-11-30 14:40 |
| #3 Why does action have to wait for commandos? |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-11-30 10:49 |
| #2 The NSG are all in Delhi to protect the politicians there. Everybody else is less important. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-11-30 06:54 |
| #1 Hindsight runs into reality. a. There are only so many troops trained to the top level. b. India is a BIG country. Our response on a federal level may have been quicker but not by much. That's why we have local SWAT teams with support agreements with other local and federal teams (similar to fire fighters). |
| Posted by: tipover 2008-11-30 02:04 |