27th Mar – a tense
day (night) for Indian cricket fans ~ will India win ? and reach the Semis
?? - as India plays an unchanged side
with some of its stars regularly failing..
A few years ago, Indian
Express carried an article on this NSG commando - Brigadier (retd) Govind Singh
Sisodia, a former DIG — who lead the commando operation and was flown to Mumbai
along with his jawans from New Delhi — catching Ajmal Kasab was the biggest
achievement of the operation. "If he was killed like the rest of the nine
terrorists and not caught alive, India would not have been able to pin down
Pakistan the way it did after so many innocent people died in Mumbai that day.
Kasab's execution brings a closure to just one chapter of the
Pakistan-perpetuated terrorism against India," said Sisodia hailing from
Chopal area of Shimla.
Photo credit : hillpost.in
Sisodia, who also
interrogated Kasab, recalled that he was "quite a sharp person".
"He was very forthcoming on whatever I asked him, like how and why he came
to Mumbai. I sat with him on the floor in the interrogation room and spoke in
Punjabi. He replied with clarity," he added. The task of flushing out terrorists from
Hotel Taj and Nariman Point was not easy, he recalled while remembering NGO
commandos Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Gajender Singh who died in action. "The
sacrifice by these two commandos made a breakthrough in the operation. The
terrorists were cornered and shot dead," said Sisodia.
Himachal had its own
heroes. Brigadier Govind Singh Sisodia, posted on deputation as DIG Training in
National Security Guards (NSG), Delhi, and Major Amit Bhardwaj were the part of
core teams that lead the operation against the terror siege in Mumbai and
successfully completed the operation. While Brig. Sisodia hailed from Chopal in
Shimla district, Major Bhardwaj, son of retired Colonel M.R. Bhardwaj is from
Hiranagar in Hamirpur. Brig. Sisodia was injured by a bullet hitting his arm during
peace-keeping assignment in Sri Lanka in 1987; he has lead various operations against the militants
in the Kashmir valley. Brig. Sisodia is
the youngest of four brothers of the family and belongs to Bharano village in
Chopal district of Shimla. His elder brother K.S. Sisodia retired as a DIG from
police and the second one, I.S. Sisodia, retired as Colonel from the Indian
Army. His father Sher Singh Sisodia was a retired revenue services officer.
~ and he is out there in
the middle (not exactly in the forefront but in the back) – the man who saved a
hundred lives during the Mumbai terror attacks has been the security in-charge of the Indian team,
since the Australian tour early this year. Daily Mail report puts that Sisodia’s work
starts even before the Indian team arrives at a particular destination. He runs
a security check of the hotel the team stays in, and the security facilities on
offer there. After that, he meets the local police authorities along with the
hotel security team and checks the entire security plan as well as noting the
entry and exit plans of the hotel. After this, he looks at the route that will
be used by the team to travel to the ground. He also works closely with the
security officials inside the stadium. And once he is at the ground, security
assigned for the team works under his instructions as he monitors every
individual in and around the area of play and the dressing rooms.
One would imagine that his
job is easier on days when the team decides to stay indoors and doesn’t train.
But he is never free. After all, he also needs to keep a close eye on fans. A member of the Indian team management feels
that Sisodia’s greatest strength is his calm demeanour. India's cricketers are
said to love asking Sisodia for stories about his past work in counter-terror.
In today’s first match
thought to be of little significance, Afghanistan bid T20WC goodbye by beating
table-toppers West Indies by six runs in a low-scoring thriller. Mohammad Nabi
and Rashid Khanbacked up their captain's confidence with figures of 2 for 26
each and kept West Indies to 117 in their chase of 124. West Indies finished as
the No. 1 team in Group 1 and will take on either India or Australia in the
semi-final, but they will go to Mumbai with a sobering defeat.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
27th Mar 2016.
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