HYDERABAD: November 3, 1988. It was a chilly morning in Patna with a foreboding of a long winter ahead when the-then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was touring the city on official business, received a call from his PMO. Ronen Sen, then Joint Secretary of his PMO informed that the Ministry of External Affairs received an SOS from the Maldivian president asking India’s help to rescue him from an attempted coup.
On this day, 30 years back, India shot into global limelight when it intervened into the attempted coup of then Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration by the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam.
On Sunday, security personnel who participated in the Operation Cactus mission highlighted how they secured the Maldivian president at a time when the 21st-century technology was considered sci-fi.
Group Captain Ashok K Chordia, Lieutenant General K Ramachandra Rao and Wing Commander Unni Kartha, who were all part of this bone-chilling mission, recounted their experiences in a meet organised by the NGO Social Cause in the city. Chordia said, “It began at 6.30am when then Ministry of External Affairs joint secretary Kuldip Sahdev received an SOS from Maldives.”
The People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, backed by Maldivian businessman Abdulla Luthufi, mounted a coup in the Maldives in November 1988. “The Maldivian president hid in Male from where the SOS was sent. Initially, the rebels thought Gayoom had left for India. That gave us a little bit of time.”
“The Prime Minister was in Patna at that time. As soon as he returned at 11.30am, his first question was: Should we do this? This can happen in our country someday and it is in our interest to protect them”.
The challenges were myriad. The Army did not have proper intelligence. “We did not know who controlled the airport at Hulhule.” Hulhule is an island in Maldives.
After much deliberation, paratroopers deputed in Rajasthan and Lucknow, left from the Agra Air Force Station at 6pm. It was only when Chordia along with others were distributed ammunition and briefed about their plans after more than two hours into their journey that they realised they were going to Maldives, he said. “The rebels were only able to make out our silhouette in the dark. They got scared and thought we were around 1,600. And we realised that their strength was just 80. They started escaping, and on their way they killed 19 people and took hostages.”The Indian troops went from Hulhule to Male on a boat, secured the President inside the National Security Services building in the capital.