OPERATION CACTUS

 When India launched 'Operation Cactus' to save Maldives

Operation Cactus Story

 Maldives, famous for its blue sea and white beach, woke up to the sound of gunfire. Masked killers were roaming freely on the streets of the capital Male. They had sophisticated weapons in their hands. Within no time, calls were being made from Male to all over the world. One of them was routed to India, which was reported to Kuldeep Sahdev, joint secretary in charge of the Maldives desk in the Ministry of External Affairs. In no time the capital swung into action. Maldives was in trouble. There was an attempted coup. The date was 3 November 1988.

Maldives got independence from the British in 1965. About three years later, a referendum was held, in which the public chose democracy, ending the eight and a half hundred years old monarchy. Ibrahim Nasir became the first President. However, the expectations with which the public had given this responsibility to Naseer, started breaking down. Political disputes and then economic issues took such a big shape that Naseer fled to Singapore with the country's money. Mamoon Abdul Gayoom became the second President of the country. Naseer left the country, but his dream of occupying here did not go away.

Gayoom ascended the throne in 1978. Two years later, there was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow him. In 1983, the rebels once again stood up, but failed. But, five years later the rebels came fully prepared. Two characters were prominent behind this – Maheshwaran, the leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil rebel organization People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam ie PLOTE, and Abdullah Lathuffi, a businessman. Lathuffi was an old aide of Ibrahim Naseer, while Maheshwaran was once a lieutenant of LTTE chief Prabhakaran.

Lathufi was a citizen of Maldives and used to do business in Sri Lanka. There are few reports as to what lured Lathuffi and Maheswaran. One report says that Lathufi was lured by the militants to become president. In return, the militants would get the entire country, where they could trade in drugs, gold and weapons. It is also told that Maheshwaran was offered a hefty amount. At the same time, he would have got a safe way to smuggle weapons.

On a date two days before 3 November 1988, Lathufi and armed militants hijacked two fishing boats. Riding in this, they started towards Male. These intruders, who arrived in the early hours of November 3 as tourists, attacked the Maldivian capital from two sides. One group advanced towards the Radio and Telecommunication Center. The second group went out in search of the President. Retired Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, who was the Director General Military Operations in the Indian Army, said that the terrorists had threatened directly to the NSS headquarters. Then it was the main security agency of Maldives.

As soon as the word of danger reached President Gayoom, he went to hide in a safe place. Emergency messages were sent on his behalf to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, America, Britain and India. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Singapore said they were in no position to help. The US and Britain also declined to intervene directly.

But, India got ready as soon as it heard this news. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called an emergency meeting. He asked his Home Minister P Chidambaram to send the NSG. However, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Suri was fed by his colleagues that the Air Force may also be needed in this operation. Army Chief General VN Singh assured the PM that the Parachute Brigade would be right for this operation.

The responsibility was given to the 50 Para Brigade stationed in Agra. Brigadier Farooq Balsara was the commander of the 50 (Independent) Para Brigade. They had three parachute battalions - 3, 6 and 7 Para. He selected 6 Para as the lead battalion and three Para as backup.

The Indian Army had got such a task for the first time. Along with the preparation of the operation, he also had to gather complete information about Maldives. Incidentally, AK Banerjee, who was ambassador to Maldives, was in Delhi at that time. He reached Agra by 4 pm. He helped a lot in the initial preparations for the campaign. But, he did not have the map of Maldives. Information gleaned from a coffee table book, some tourist maps. First make a plan that para dropping will be done from the plane i.e. jawans will jump. A former commander of 50 Para was asked for his opinion and he immediately rejected the plan. The reason, the islands in Maldives are very small. On para-dropping, the wind could take the jawans far away from the target. It was decided to land there. Within a few hours, two planes left for Maldives.

The jawans peeped down into the Indian Ocean from the open sky. The coral reefs looked like a cactus in the clear water. This is where the name Operation Cactus came from. The entire planning of the operation was done in that five-hour journey itself. The jawans had 70-80 parachutes. The planning was that if needed the paratroopers would go first. Will capture the airport. After this the plane will be landed.

Fortunately, the Hulule airport was not under the control of the militants. It was night by the time the Indian planes landed here. Two teams were formed. One was to secure the airport, while the other was to liberate Male and bring the President of Maldives safely.

Indian soldiers left in local boats. The team that reached Male also got divided into two parts. One went in search of the President and the other of the militants. By midnight the main beach of Male was secured. Indian jawans were moving forward carefully searching each and every place. At some places, they also had encounters with the militants, in which the jawans got victory. At 2.15 am, a team reached the President and two hours later, i.e. at 4.15 am on November 4, this news was conveyed to PM Rajiv Gandhi.

The whole story had changed in one night, but was not completely over. When the militants felt that they could not face the Indian Army, they took a ship hostage and tried to escape from it. The militants took several civilians hostage, including the Maldivian Transport Minister and his wife.

As soon as this ship left the port, the Indian Army got a clue. Shots were fired at it, rockets were fired, but the ship was out of firing range.