RAW facilitated SAS officer’s India visit

NEW DELHI: As furore begins over Britain’s SAS ( Special Air Service) involvement in the Operation Bluestar and questions fly over how the matter could have been conducted in such secrecy, it appears that the intelligence unit – Research and Analysis wing ( RAW) – acted as the vital “missing link”.

Just a couple of days before Operation Bluestar began, the secret Special Group (SG) —a Special Forces unit under Research and Analysis Wing— arrived in Amritsar. It was the first hint the army hierarchy had that RAW would also play a role in the operation.

If a Special Air Services officer did, indeed, come to India, it was possible that he worked with the Special Group, suggested sources in the intelligence agencies. Routing an SAS officer through the Research and Analysis Wing would have helped avoid the normal diplomatic and military channels and maintain complete secrecy. The officer would have met his counterparts from the Special Group and briefed them on a possible plan to assault the complex.

RN Kao, who had founded the external intelligence agency in 1968, was very close to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was her closest advisor on security matters.

And even today, this secretive unit, which operates out of Chakrata in Uttarakhand, reports directly to the Prime Minister’s Office through the Research and Analysis Wing

THE SPECIAL AIR SERVICE HAD BEEN EMPLOYED BY BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE SINCE THE 1950S TO FURTHER ITS ECONOMIC AND FOREIGN POLICY INTERESTS

chief.

Special Forces and intelligence sources familiar with the background also suggested that the officer was a Colonel in the SAS, with years of successful special operations under his belt.

In 1988, the same officer paid a visit to the Indian Peacekeeping Force ( IPKF) operations in Sri Lanka.

The Special Air Services had frequently been employed by the British Foreign Office since the 1950s to forward its economic and foreign policy interests.

With India offering to make major arms purchases from Britain, sending an experienced Special Air Services officer to give advice on the Operation Blue Star would be a logical step.

The SG, in fact, had a separate plan to assault the Golden Temple, using canisters of knockout gas.

But the plan went awry after the gas canisters were found to have crossed the expiry date. It forced the Special Forces from the army’s 1 Para-Commando to launch a suicidal frontal attack.

It was one of many mistakes committed during the operation.