Pathankot Attack: Would The Army Have Handled It Better?

Did the NSA’s ‘civilian’ NSG botch up the Pathankot operation? Would the army have handled it better? With the NSG out of its depth, the army was called in to deliver the final punch.

- Chander Suta Dogra

Much before the 168 men of the National Security Guard (NSG), ordered in by Natio­nal Security Advisor Ajit Doval, landed at Pathankot air force base in the evening of January 1, the terror­ists who struck in the wee hours of the next day were already inside and biding their time. They had scaled the 11 feet high perimeter wall, possibly in separate groups of two and four. While the group of four was in a forested area of the base, the other two who entered—most likely on the inter­vening night of January 31-1—hid in a truck in the parking area of the base, where scores of vehicles are stationed. They obviously knew beforehand that the vehicles parked in this particular area of the base are not used on a reg­ular basis and they could remain there undetected. Who told them?