India's Special Forces Explained

On 16th December, 2023, MV Ruen, a ship from a small country called Malta, is hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea. The ship had a cargo of 38,000 tons worth $1 million and 17 crew members. After hijacking the ship, the pirates start negotiations with the ship's owner.

They ask for $60 million to return the crew and the ship. Negotiations go on for three months, but no solution is found. But then, a twist comes up.

On 16th March, 2024, the Indian military starts an operation to save the crew. The hijacking of cargo vessels in the Gulf of Aden was a problem for a long time. Since 2008, the Indian Navy has been deployed there because India's heavy trade comes from this route.

To locate the hijacked Malta ship, the Indian Navy deployed a maritime patrol aircraft and warship. They also airdropped the elite Marcos Commandos, a special force unit of the Navy. The operation lasts for 40 hours.

After that, 35 pirates surrender and 17 crew members are saved. After this mission, the Indian special forces get global media coverage. CNN even wrote in its article that the dramatic rescue by the Indian Navy tells the world about the special forces of the Indian military, which is now one of the best forces in the world.

But you must be wondering what the Indian special forces are. These forces are a specialized military unit trained to carry out unique and complex missions. Every branch of the Indian armed forces has its own special force.

The Indian Army has the Para-SF, the Navy has the Marcos, the Air Force has the Garud, and there's a special frontier force that directly reports to the PMO. To make this video, I've used these books whose links are in the description. One of these books is written by Lt.

Gen. P. C.

Katoch, who has served in a special force. So what do these special forces do? And why does our military need them?

To understand this, we need to understand India's military failure. In October 1962, when India was in a difficult situation. .

. India's Intelligence Bureau failed to predict the Chinese attack. In the 1962 war, the Indian government made a report that blamed BN Malik, who was the head of the Intelligence Bureau at the time.

The report said that BN Malik did not fulfil his responsibilities during a critical period, but no action was taken against him. The report was never made public, but in 2014, a section of the report was revealed by a journalist. The report said that the Intelligence Bureau did not collect intelligence on what China was doing at the border.

And for this intelligence failure, India had to pay a heavy price. Approximately 1,300 soldiers were martyred, 1,000 were injured, and 4,000 were captured in a war that lasted for a month. After this intelligence failure, Prime Minister Nehru decided that he didn't want to repeat this mistake.

So, two days before the end of the war, he wrote letters to the American president to ask for help. Three days after this letter, the United States sent a delegation of CIA officials. The CIA is the intelligence agency of the United States.

The CIA delegation met with BN Malik, the director of the Intelligence Bureau. The CIA offered India an offer to improve its defences against China. Now, why would the US do it?

There are two likely reasons. First, Jawaharlal Nehru himself asked for help from the US. And second, there was a Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.

The US and the Soviet Union were appealing to other countries to join their camp. China was in the Soviet Union's camp because they were communist countries. And that's why the US wanted to help India so that India could join the US in this Cold War.

Whatever the reason, the CIA was helping the Intelligence Bureau to create a secret force. And BN Malik, who was accused of India's intelligence failure, should also be credited for creating India's first special force. He created it with India's war veteran Biju Patnaik.

This force was called the Special Frontier Force or Establishment 22. The purpose behind this special force was to create a guerrilla force that could go inside Chinese territory and attack them. An experienced officer of the Indian Army, Major General Sujan Singh Uban, was made the first Inspector General of this force.

The first cadre of the Establishment 22 was also carefully selected. The entire cadre was from the Khampa community, which belongs to the Kham region of Tibet and is under Chinese rule. And these people were the original bodyguards of Dalai Lama.

These people were recruited for two reasons. First, they knew the territory and terrain well and they knew how to work in high-altitude conditions. Second, they hated China.

Because in 1951, China occupied Tibet. In fact, many soldiers of this force were the same people who brought Dalai Lama from Tibet to India. After the recruitment of these Tibetan cadres, their intense training began.

For example, how to jump in enemy territory, how to use radios and wireless sets, and how to send signals to airplanes from the ground. But not everyone in the Indian Army was happy with this force. The army was also engaged in politics.

In 1962, many people asked what was the need of this force. And for this reason, the chief of this special force sent 120 Tibetan soldiers to an army field exercise codenamed Garuda. And this field exercise showed everyone what these soldiers could do.

Captain Manmohan Singh Kohli said in an interview that the SFF men are very tough. One time, while building a helipad, we had to remove a huge stone. It required 6-7 men.

But an SFF man said, put it on my back. And that single soldier carried the stone for 15 feet to throw it away. In fact, this book explains how this force is still very secretive.

And many Indian Army officials don't know about it. But after their formation, this special force carried out many important operations for India. And the most critical operation was the war between India and Pakistan in 1971 when Bangladesh was liberated.

During this war, the battalions of Establishment 22 were secretly deployed in Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is a hilly area in the southeast of Bangladesh. Their mission was to infiltrate Bangladesh and attack Pakistani soldiers and their military infrastructure such as logistical lines, communication lines, and weapons supply bases. In 1962, the SFF or Establishment 22 became India's first special force.

For many years, the Indian government kept this force a secret. But in 1978, a Prime Minister made a mistake. In 1965, the CIA gave India an electronic intelligence machine which was kept by India on Nanda Devi Hill, the second highest hill in India.

This machine was tracking Chinese missile tests. But in 1978, this machine disappeared. But the fear wasn't just about this machine.

The fear was also about this machine being powered by a plutonium generator. Prime Minister Morarji Desai told the Parliament that people don't need to worry about nuclear safety because this generator is being looked after by the Special Frontier Force. By mistake, he mentioned the name of this force in the Parliament.

I'll tell you about the present status of this force in a bit in this video. Let's move on to the story. Three years after the formation of the SFF, a man in the Indian Army, Major Megh Singh, realized that the Indian Army needed a special force like this.

Major Megh Singh was a mid-level staff officer in the Brigade of Guards, which is an infantry regiment in the Western Command of the Indian Army. Infantry regiment means the foot soldiers of an army. Major Megh Singh was a staff officer in once such regiment in the Western Command.

The Western Command is the largest command area of the Indian Army. It stretches from the deserts of Rajasthan to the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir. In 1965, Major Megh Singh resigned because he didn't get a promotion.

But when he got the news that Pakistan had entered Jammu and Kashmir, he came back. One morning in 1965, Major Megh Singh had an idea of making the Western Command of India stronger by using commando forces. His idea was to make a small team and strategically position it in the enemy's territory and not in India's territory.

He said that the mission of this team would be to destroy the enemy's plans, collect intelligence about them, destroy their key targets, and create confusion in the enemy. Major Megh Singh believed that even though the team would be small, they would get specialized training that would have a huge impact on any war. During the Second World War, he conducted such operations in Burma behind the Japanese lines.

He was confident that he could conduct such missions in Pakistan. With this idea, Major Megh Singh approached the head of the command of Western Command of the Indian Army, Lt. Gen.

Harbaksh Singh. Lt. Gen.

Harbaksh Singh was a leader whose reputation was that it was easy to talk to him and he would listen to new ideas carefully, even if they were not brought by his junior soldiers. Lt. Gen.

Harbaksh Singh listened to Major Megh Singh's presentation carefully. In this presentation, Major Megh Singh proposed that the Indian Army would benefit from special operations and for this, he wanted to make a commando battalion. After this presentation, Harbaksh Singh agreed to his proposal and told Major Megh Singh to start preparations.

He also told Megh Singh that if he succeeded in his mission, he would be given a promotion. At that time, the Indian Army was very decentralized. So, to make a new unit in the army, you didn't need approval from any bureaucrat in Delhi.

In fact, the army could decide itself. So, Major Megh Singh was given full freedom to make a unit that the Indian Army had never seen before. He handpicked all the people in this unit.

And because this force was his idea, it was named the Meghdoot Force. After recruitment, the training of the Meghdoot Force began. The training was held in Jammu and Kashmir, near Udhampur in the mountains.

This unit was trained in physical fitness, tactics, and weapon handling. The training standards for this unit were higher than that of the regular military. And the mountainous area of Udhampur was ideal for this training because it was a challenging environment for this unit.

The weather was bad, there were many slopes, and the ground was uneven. Apart from physical fitness and weapon training, they also had to study a lot. For example, they had to study the Pakistani military's setups and maps in detail.

This is called Order of Battle or ORBAT. It provides details about enemy soldiers' stations, their equipment, and how it's organized. Major Megh Singh's decision to make the Meghdoot Force was useful because this force had to be deployed very quickly.

In August 1965, India and Pakistan went to war. Pakistani soldiers had crossed Kashmir's Line of Control to start an insurgency in India. This operation was called Operation Gibraltar by the Pakistani military.

When the war started, Lt. Gen. Harbaksh Singh secretly sent the Meghdoot Force across the Kashmir Line of Control.

To prevent the Pakistani army from entering the Kashmir Valley, the Indian army launched an operation to block an entry point. This operation aimed to block the Hajipir Pass. But to prevent the Pakistani army from entering the pass, the Meghdoot Force would go after the Pakistani supply lines at night, attack them and cross the LOC within a few hours.

On the night of 1 September 1965, the Meghdoot Force went 10 km inside the Pakistani border and destroyed a tunnel. After the war in 1965, the Meghdoot Force was reorganized and it became the first commando battalion of the Indian army. Commando battalions are not like regular army units.

They're trained for specialized operations. For example, secret operations, enemy lines raids, or any other mission that requires stealth, agility, and advanced combat skills. After a while, this commando battalion was integrated into the Indian Parachute Regiment and it was called the 9th Battalion.

The Parachute Regiment is a specialized unit of the Indian army which is basically used for airborne operations. That is, operations where a unit is dropped from a parachute in a combat zone. As the news of this elite unit was spreading in the Indian army, many young officers from different parts of the Indian army wanted to join this battalion.

At that time, the Indian army had many parachute battalions. And if an officer wanted to join this elite commando battalion from a parachute battalion, he didn't need any special training. But after a while, Major Megh Singh got a promotion and he was made the head of this elite unit.

And he said that only those people would join this commando battalion who would get special training. So he started sending his team members to a military center in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, where they were given specialized training. And at that time, there was an entry of an man who wanted to make the Indian special forces more specialized.

In 1967, Major Bhawani Singh was appointed second-in-command in the 9th Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Megh Singh. After getting a promotion, Megh Singh became a lieutenant colonel from a major. And under him was Major Bhawani Singh.

Major Bhawani Singh was from a royal family in Rajasthan. And he wanted to make a special unit for operations in the desert. Just like the 9th Battalion.

In July 1967, his idea was accepted. And the 9th Battalion was divided into two parts. The original group, which was called the 9th Battalion or 9 Para (Commando), was led by Lieutenant Colonel Megh Singh.

And this unit was sent to Udhampur, where their focus was to carry out special operations in the mountains. While the second unit was called the 10th Battalion or 10 Para (Commando). And this unit was sent to Rajasthan, so that they could learn commando raids in the desert.

And four years later, these two units were tested during the 1971 war. The 9th Para (Commando) played an important role in the northern region. They defended important positions like Poonch.

While the 10th Para (Commando) carried out raids in Sindh, at the headquarters of the Pakistani Rangers. So it became clear that these two special forces were very important for our country. But these special forces were facing a huge problem, which showed us for the first time that special forces also need support.

What was the problem? Insurgency in Punjab. Political violence became a common thing in Punjab in the 1970s.

I've made a full video on the Khalistan Movement, which you can watch after this video. During this period, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was trying to radicalize the Sikh community. There were news every day about how minority Hindus were being attacked in Punjab and many political leaders were being killed.

Special forces were needed to counter this violence. But they weren't ready for this mission. Before the Punjab insurgency, the Indian Army knew that they had to create a force that could face the internal security challenges of our country.

To create this force, the army decided to create a special unit, like the British Special Air Service. The British SAS is a highly skilled special force unit that is world-famous. This unit is so skilled that it can be deployed in many situations.

For example, in a strategic role, where they need to secure an area. Or in a counter-terrorism role, where they need to secure hostages. The Indian Army had paracommando units.

Like 9 Para (Commando) in the Northern Command, and 10 Para (Commando) in the Western Command. But the Indian Army wanted to create a new strategic unit that wasn't assigned to just one area, but could be deployed anywhere. For this, the Indian Army took a unit of 9 Para (Commando) and called it the Experimental Commando Wing.

But one Indian Army officer raised his voice. It was Lt. Gen.

Inder Singh Gill, who had conducted many commando operations during World War II. He said that we shouldn't convert a unit of 9 Para (Commando). Because if there's a war, the army won't have any commando units left.

Instead, he said, why don't we convert the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, known as 1 Para. And that's exactly what happened. In 1979, the conversion started, and trials were held in 1982.

After which, this unit was called the Paracommando. But these Paracommandos couldn't become an elite unit. There were many reasons behind this.

Like Lt. Gen. P.

C. Katoch writes in his book, that for years, the army kept focusing on minor issues. Like whether the special forces should wear civilian clothes or not.

Whereas they should've focused on providing proper equipment and missions. Like the Paracommandos used many old weapons. Like 7.

62mm self-loading rifles or Sterling submachine guns, which are not suitable for special operations. And these problems became clear in 1984, when the army was called to Amritsar for Operation Blue Star. In June 1984, many armed militants with Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale took refuge in the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

The militants had many weapons and had set up their base inside the Golden Temple. Indira Gandhi's government tried to negotiate with them, but the negotiation failed. After this Indira Gandhi decided to use the Indian Army to remove the militants.

On 1st June, many CRPF soldiers were martyred by the terrorists. And on 2nd June, the Indian Army was called to enter the Golden Temple. And the Paracommandos were deployed here.

But the problems were already clear. For instance, the Paracommandos had no intelligence about the militants. Listen to the interview of Lt.

Gen. P. C.

Katoch, who was leading a team inside the Golden Temple. They were also using outdated weapons. During such operations, special forces would enter any structure by blasting it.

But the Indian Army was not allowed to do so. This is why there were many casualties after the operation. In fact, the commanding officer of this operation himself said that he was sent to this operation, but his hands were tied.

After the failure of Operation Blue Star, the government realized that they needed a special force whose main objective was to counter terrorism. This force was called the National Security Guard. In June 1984, a post of Director of NSG was created.

And two years later, in August 1986, a bill was passed for NSG. Like the paracommandos, the inspiration for NSG came from the SAS of the United Kingdom. But NSG was different from the paracommandos of the army.

Because NSG was not reporting to the Ministry of Defense, but to the Home Ministry. Even today, the officers of NSG come from the Central and State Police Forces, not the Indian Army. And the result of creating NSG was seen very soon.

In 1988, during Operation Black Thunder 2. After Operation Blue Star in 1984, many Sikhs were very angry with Indira Gandhi. After Operation Blue Star, Indira Gandhi was assassinated.

And many Sikh terrorists committed political violence in the country. In May 1988, 30 such groups were active in Punjab. And they had captured many rooms of the Golden Temple.

On May 11, 1988, many NSG commandos were sent to Amritsar. Before the arrival of the NSG commandos, there were CRPF soldiers around the Golden Temple. As soon as the commandos arrived, they secured these positions.

And they were waiting for the time when they would enter the Golden Temple. Outside the Golden Temple, NSG positioned snipers in different locations. Along with snipers, they were given night-vision goggles.

With these, they were able to kill many terrorists at night. This time, NSG learned from the mistakes of the para-commandos during Operation Blue Star. So instead of entering the temple immediately, they played a wait-and-game.

They took time to secure the building and gather intelligence about what was happening inside. As soon as they secured the entire area, NSG commandos entered the Golden Temple. And they continuously fired machine guns.

So many continuous shots were fired that even the terrorists were shocked. NSG commandos' strategy was to fire continuously and then stop for a while. At that time, they would announce that if anyone wanted to surrender, they could.

And because of this, during the 7-day operation, many terrorists and civilians were able to escape. Because of NSG's continuous machine gun firing, the morale of the terrorists had dropped. So on 18th May, just 7 days after the operation began, the last terrorists left the Golden Temple.

During the entire operation, only 3 NSG commandos were injured. This was a huge victory for NSG. The entire Indian security system understood that a special force could be effective against counter-terrorism.

So the Indian Army had paracommandos and the Home Ministry had NSG. But the Air Force saw the need for a special force only when there was another war between India and Pakistan. The Kargil War.

The need for a special force became even clearer when in 2001, two terrorist attacks were carried out on Indian Air Force bases in Jammu and Kashmir. They showed that the Indian Air Force bases were not that secure. And that's why they needed a special force.

In 2002, a special force was formed. It was originally called the Tiger Force, which was later changed to the Garud Force. In September 2003, the Indian government authorized the Garud Force.

And a few months later, in 2004, the first batch of training was completed. Working along with the NSG, the Garud Commandos killed the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Air Base in 2016. On 31st December 2015, Ikkagar Singh, a taxi driver, was driving his car.

But at 9 p. m. , he was stopped by several terrorists.

The terrorists had an AK-47, and they wanted to hijack his car. The 35-year-old Ikkagar fought a lot, and the terrorists killed him. The terrorists hijacked another car and went to the Pathankot Air Base.

The terrorists hid behind the grass of the air base and attacked the Indian soldiers. Seven soldiers were martyred, like Corporal Gursewak Singh of the Garud Force. India had evidence that Jaish-e-Mohammad had carried out this attack.

The notice you see on the screen was issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. It clearly states that the evidence was shared with a Pakistani team who had come to India to investigate the attack. But nine months later, the Indian government realized that inviting a Pakistani team was a big mistake.

On 8th September 2016, the four terrorists of Lashkar-e-Toiba attacked the Indian Army Brigade Headquarters near Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. 19 of our soldiers were martyred. It was clear that a response had to be given.

And the Indian Special Forces would respond. Two battalions of the Indian Army's Para Special Force, 9 Para SF and 4 Para SF, were given the responsibility of conducting a surgical strike. You can find all the details in this book.

The link is in the description. After the attack, the Northern Army Commander, Lt. Gen.

D. S. Hooda, in Udhampur, was very sad.

He said that he was responsible for the lives of the soldiers who were martyred. And it was clear to him what the next step would be. Along with him, Army Chief of Staff General Dalbir Singh and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, all knew what the next steps would be.

A year earlier, Lt. Gen. Hooda had conducted an Operation Hot Pursuit in Myanmar.

This gave everyone the idea of a surgical strike. In this operation, the Indian Army's Para SF unit, which was based in the Northeast, had located the NSCN camp, which was inside Myanmar, and had killed 60 terrorists. Lt.

Gen. Hooda knew that Uri would respond in the same way. In fact, a few months before the Uri attack, Lt.

Gen. Hooda had told his two colonels, Col. H.

and Col. K. , to search for targets on the other side of the LOC.

Col. H. and K.

are being referred to it this way because these colonels' names are not mentioned in the book. During the winter of 2015, two battalions of Para SF, Para 4 and Para 10, trained for such attacks. In September 2016, it was time to execute the operation for which these battalions were training last year.

Col. H. and Col.

K. return to their bases and pick up the people from these two battalions to execute the mission. The commanding officers of these two battalions, also known as COBs, are called and told that there are two objectives of this mission.

To instil fear and to seek revenge. Col. H.

says that the idea was to tell them that we know where they were based and, most importantly, we know how to kill them. On 28th September 2016, Lt. Gen.

Hooda launched Operation X. He called Col. H.

and Col. K. and wished them good luck.

The team to execute Operation X went to the LOC in the evening. But they were waiting till the dark to cross the LOC. In Delhi, Army Chief of Staff Gen.

Dalbir Singh briefed National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. And he was told about the mission's plan. But when night fell, Col.

H. and Col. K's teams were on their own.

Because they had crossed the LOC. Their mission was to attack the terrorist camps near the Peer Panjal Range. To reach those camps, they had to cross several outposts of the Pakistani Army.

Meaning, they were in the enemy's territory. But apart from one injury, Operation X was successful. Terrorists were surprised by this strike.

And the next day, on 29th September, internally, everyone knew that this surgical strike was a success. And gradually, the entire country realized how important Special Forces are. Because of such specialized missions, Special Forces are often called the army with a beard.

Because to blend in with the terrorists, they often keep a beard. Major Mohit Sharma, who is from Para-1 Special Force, was given the Ashok Chakra. He grew his beard.

And infiltrated the terrorist group. For weeks, he collected intelligence. This is just one example of how Special Forces work 24 hours a day.

Today, there are many Special Forces in our country. But there are four main ones. The Para-1 Special Forces of the Army, which have many battalions.

The Marcos of the Navy. The Garud of the Air Force. And finally, the National Security Guard, which is under the Home Ministry.

To join the Special Forces, all the candidates have to pass the CDS exam, which is conducted by the UPSC. After this, they go through an interview by the Service Selection Board. And they have to pass the physical test.

And only after that, you can apply for the Special Forces. Colonel Kaushal Kashyap said in an interview that Special Forces soldiers are those who have no fear in their minds. "The purpose is that you want to select such people who are not afraid.

" "Who wants to take up challenges in life. " "That I have to take up this challenge. " "I am not afraid.

" Even after selection, you are permanent only when you pass the 90-day probationary period. "Probation is a 3-month selection process. " "In which you will be tested physically and mentally to your limits.

" NSG training is also challenging in the same way. They're told about minor details. They are told how doors work, how to remove obstacles in cities, and how to stay awake all night.

Along with these four special forces, there's another special force. Special Frontier Force, which doesn't even report to the army. It reports directly to the PMO.

When this force was formed, there were only Tibetans in it. But today, there are both Tibetans and Gorkhas. SSF's training center is located 100 km away from Dehradun in Chakrata.

They're not trained under the army, but under India's external intelligence agency, RAW. Even today, SSF is deployed in the border areas of India against China. SSF is so important for India that in November 2020, India sent a very harsh message to China when BJP's General Secretary Ram Madhav went to a funeral for Subedar Nyima Tenzin, a special frontier force Tibetan.

It was a slap on China's face because China said that Tibet was a part of India. But Tibetans are fighting against China alongside the Indian army. This special frontier force is so secretive that even the army officials don't know about it.

It's never revealed how big this force is and what operations it has participated in. Today, many retired soldiers from this force are running shops in Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila area or Dharamshala. If you find a retired soldier in these areas, who is over 80 years old, it's possible that he was the bodyguard of Dalai Lama who brought him to India.

If you meet such a person, do thank him. Do you remember Lt. Col.

Megh Singh, who wanted to make a special force for the Indian army? In 1973, he settled in his village near Jodhpur. He was the president of Rajasthan's Farmers' Union for many years.

He gave his time to solve the problems of the farmers. He was awarded the Veer Chakra. In 2010, he died.

The video was getting too long, so I didn't talk about Marcos. But their story is equally interesting. If you want to know more about them, you'll find many links in the description.