Pakistan’s commando unit behind attack?

NEW DELHI: Nobody wants to be on record, but many seasoned Pakistani watchers within the security establishment are beginning to suspect that Tuesday’s attack on Indian soldiers may have been executed by the Special Services Group (SSG), the Pakistan Army’s commando unit. Reasons for this presumption are many — most important being that the one operation that has most parallels with the attack was a strike of February 2000, which was suspected to be an action by the SSG.
“I don’t have any credible evidence to say for sure, but the way the operation was carried out, the beheading etc point fingers at the SSG,” said a senior official in the security establishment . He said it had an uncanny resemblance to the February 27, 2000, operation, which was led by Ilyas Kashmiri , the dreaded terrorist commander who was killed in a US drone attack.

Though some dispute it, many in the Indian establishment believe Kashmiri was actually a member of the SSG when he carried out the raid. A second group has said that Kashmiri was working in tandem with SSG and not really a member of the commando unit. But all of them agree on Kashmiri’s SSG training for his Afghan missions and later operations in Kashmir.

According to the Army, the Pakistani attackers were wearing black uniforms, which is a standard SSG outfit. Started in 1950s, SSG has had active role in most of the wars with India, and it has also played a key role in the mujahideen war against Russians in Afghanistan through the 1980s. The 2000 raid was on Ashok Listening Post, a remote advance post that had already been identified vulnerable by the commanding officer of 17 Maratha Light Infantry.

Seven Indian soldiers were killed, and sepoy Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar (24) was beheaded and his severed head taken back to PoK. Pakistani media has reported that Kashmiri paraded the head before Gen Pervez Musharraf and in the local town.

This time the attack came when three soldiers were part of a patrol party, close to LOC, and ahead of the fence. It is possible that the attackers lay in waiting through the night. “It is almost a repeat of what happened in 2000,” a second Kashmir hand said. He said the attackers were “either SSG members or terrorists” .

However, there are two other probabilities. One, the attack was carried out by regular Pakistani soldiers. Second, it was an action by terrorists with the blessings of the Pakistani Army.

Whatever may be the scenario , and whoever may have carried out the attack, one thing is for sure in the Indian security establishment— that it was not possible without the active support of the local Pakistani Army unit.