2003 Gazi Baba killing reduced JeM to an army sans generals: BSF history book

Te 2003 BSF operation which led to the killing of terrorist Gazi Baba in Jammu and Kashmir, and is now the subject of an upcoming action movie, reduced the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to an "army without generals".

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It also earned the paramilitary force a dozen gallantry medals including two military decorations.

The operation has been etched in the official history book of the 1965 raised force that is primarily tasked to guard Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from rendering a variety of duties in the country's internal security domain.

"Ground Zero", a Hindi movie, is based on this operation and the exploits of the gallant BSF officers and troops who killed one of the most wanted terrorists of the time. The film is slated to release on April 25.

Actor Emraan Hashmi, 46, plays the role of Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, the second-in-command rank officer of the BSF who led the action.

Rana Tahir Nadeem, alias Gazi Baba, was a "target" chased by the BSF since the day the Jaish-eMohammad attacked the Indian Parliament in December 2001.

Thanks to its "persistent" intelligence and surveillance efforts, the force got inputs on the elusive terrorist on August 29, 2003, according to the 319-page book. It was released by the force on its 50th anniversary in 2015.

During the period the operation was effected, the BSF was deployed in the Kashmir Valley for counterterrorist operations and its vital and famed 'G branch (intelligence wing) was known to produce "marvellous" results and "top of the class" snoop inputs, a senior BSF officer said.