India's Most Dangerous Military Forces Explained (Part 1)

Rescue of MV Ruen and Recognition of Indian Special Forces

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.

The Nature and Need for Special Forces

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. 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 defenses 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.

Birth of the Special Frontier Force (SFF)

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.

Demonstrating the Capabilities of the SFF

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.

Accidental Public Disclosure of the SFF

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.

The Genesis of the Meghdoot Force

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.

Deployment and Transformation of the Meghdoot Force

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.

Formation of 9 Para (Commando) and 10 Para (Commando)

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 was 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.

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