Hrishabh Tiwari
03/10/2021
The development of a nation is accompanied by the need for allies to support it and regular competitors to spur it on. No nation can stand alone economically or strategically. To maintain healthy relations between two allies, diplomatic faculties and military work in harmony to sustain peace and prosperity. In the global arena, a nation's foreign policy greatly determines its position and capabilities. For decades, the Indian government has been working positively on the international front to support its allied nations, India's benevolent foreign policies have allowed it to extend economic and military aid to its "associate" nations in distress, especially the nations with which it has a history of very close ties, namely: Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives.
India's altruistic nature came to the fore when one such lamentable situation occurred in the archipelago of the Maldives some three decades back. A chain of islands in the Indian Ocean kenned for its crystal clear waters, corals, white sand beaches and heaven-like beauty that welcomed flocks of tourists from all over the world was caught in an unprecedented plight. The Republic of Maldives offers a great escape from the chaotic urban life to a serene and peaceful place that seems unreal to the beholder, the blue-water island had hardly ever made headlines for violence; the last time any conflict occurred in the archipelago was way back in 1978 when a German man had allegedly killed his partner. In the local community, the story of the murder was so shocking and rare that it was only spoken of in whispers but soon things were to change.
Previously under Britain's protectorate, the small island nation gained independence in July 1965 and only 3 years later, the Muslim majority country turned democratic. Right from independence, the Malé people experienced political unrest with coup attempts against the then elected president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The situation turned alarming when a third coup d'état was attempted by a rebel Maldivian businessman Abdullah Luthufee along with 'People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam'(PLOTE), a Sri Lanka based separatist group. On November 3, 1988, the heavily armed 'PLOTE' militants raided the presidential palace that forced the Maldivian president Gayoom to go in hiding. In a distressing situation, Malé sent SOS to UK, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the US, while other nations took time to respond to the distress call, India quickly acted and deployed its troops.
The Indian Air Force, Army and Navy jointly planned a mission to avert the coup d'état, the covert mission was seeded under the codename 'Operation Cactus' that would go on to define the Indian military prowess in the future. Within few hours of receiving the assistance call from the President of Maldives, Indian troops had pulled up their socks and were ready to board the aircraft which would transport them to an island nation previously unheard of by most echelons who were to carry out the covert operation. The No. 44 Squadron of Indian Air Force, 50(I) Parachute Brigade of Indian Army and Indian Navy's frigate INS Godavari and training ship INS Betwa along with other warships jointly entered in the 'Operation Cactus' under the leadership of Brigadier Farooq Balsara. Almost 12 hours after receiving the SOS call from the Malé, 50(I) Para Brigade troops emplaned the Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft which took off from Agra and throttled towards Hulhule, an island adjacent to Malé.
The troops landed in Hulhule at 2148hrs and quickly securing the airfield, the airborne troops moved swiftly towards Malé and by the break of the first light on the morning of November 4, Indian troops had managed to throw out the PLOTE rebels and rescue the Maldivian President and the hostages. The 'Operation Cactus' was a complete success for the Indian Armed Forces and has got its name kenned among the world's most professionally executed military operations like 'Operation Thunderbolt' (carried out by Israeli Defence Forces to rescue hostages aboard Air France) and 'Operation Geronimo' (execution of Osama Bin Laden by US Navy SEAL Team 6). In this article, we shall revisit India's most daring Military Operation; Op Cactus.
The Republic of Maldives is an island chain in the Indian Ocean with a Muslim majority population of 5.3 lakhs. Previously a British protectorate, the Maldives got its political independence in the year 1965 and 3 years later in 1968, a new republic was inaugurated that abolished the 'sultanate' where most of the administration lied in the hands of Sultans. Alike any other Asian country, this archipelagic nation too, has experienced strong strife between political leaders to hold onto control of the islands. Al Ameer Ibrahim Nasir became the first president of the newly democratic Maldives through a referendum for a term of four years and he appointed Ahmed Zaki as the new Prime Minister for the country. In the year 1973, Nasir got re-elected under the new provisions to serve for a five-year term but it was in the year 1975 when the enmity and bitterness between President Ameer Ibrahim Nasir and Ahmed Zaki boiled over and there spread rumours of Ahmed Zaki being involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the president through employing power. As a consequence, president Nasir used all the powers vested onto him by the amended constitution and he expelled Ahmed Zaki to a remote atoll(ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets). The coup attempt had no serious consequences for the functioning of the Maldivian parliament but the economy suffered a great hit. Although it was historically the first coup against the Maldivian president to have been foiled, the Nasir government could not stand up against the declining economy and ultimately lost the trust of the population.
In the year 1978, a new election dethroned Al Ameer Ibrahim Nasir and he was superseded by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who went on to hold his position for six consecutive terms till 2008. Not only was Maumoon Abdul Gayoom the most popular prez of the Maldives, but he was also one of the most literate people to have held the office of importance in the Malé. A graduate from the Al-Azhar University, Cairo, a UN ambassador and previously a transport minister in the Nasir government, Gayoom was elected to the presidential palace with majority ballots. Keeping up with the promise, Gayoom worked hard to revive the ever-declining economy, he toiled to promote tourism and uplift the poor islands. It was due to his efforts, the Maldives joined the IMF and World Bank. The tourism sector began to pave way for foreign exchange and in the year 1985, as many as 1,20,000 tourists visited the Maldives. The small island nation began to benefit heavily due to the increased tourism, however, there was a small section of the population that believed the Gayoom government was biased towards them. Their resentment and animosity toward Gayoom led to their desire to remove him from the presidential post.
The third coup d'état
In the 1980s, the Gayoom government worked hard to crack down on any irregularities and corruption that had occurred during the previous Nasir government. Ahmed Nasser, brother of former president Nasir was irked by the parliamentary investigations into financial irregularities, his resentment grew when an inquiry was fired against his loyalists over the torture and killings of inmates in a prison. Ahmed Nasser was so rankled that he vowed to dismantle the Gayoom government, he got in touch with the British ex-Special Air services mercenaries to stage a coup on prez Gayoom. However, the coup attempt was thwarted as the president had been alerted of the arrival of the armed mercenaries. In April 1981, the higher court of the Maldives sentenced Ahmed Nasser to life imprisonment. The 1988 presidential election brought Gayoom his third consecutive term, but it was not long before a third coup attempt, more lethal and daring than the previous two, would take place.
A third and highly planned coup attempt was carried out by a Maldivian businessman named Abdullah Luthufee with the support of the Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a militant group based in Sri Lanka. Abdullah Luthufee was a foe of the Maldivian president Gayoom and harbored a strong hatred for his government. Luthufee claims that Gayoom's administration was the worst; even the Sultanate administration had been superior. Luthufee was of the belief that the Maldivian election lacked equal opportunities for the opposition and that the only way to gain power was to overthrow Gayoom with external support.
Abdullah Luthufee owned a poultry farm in Sri Lanka and had good relations with the leadership of 'People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam', especially with the 'PLOTE' founder Uma Maheshwaran. Luthufee was very desperate to remove the Gayoom government from power but it's still not clear whether he wanted to become the president or reseat the Nasir government. The ploy for the coup started to take shape in the year 1987, the same year Indian Peace Keeping Force entered Sri Lanka to support the Sri Lankan military against the militant groups such as LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Abdullah Luthufee and Uma Maheshwaran realized that if the coup is to be successful, thorough planning is necessary. The failures of the previous two coups had alerted them, they were aware that any loose wire would mean a complete failure for the third coup too.
Abdullah Luthufee had his own interests in carrying out the coup, but for 'PLOTE', it was more about sending a message and establishing dominance. After losing ground to the LTTE and being badly rattled by the Indian Peace Keeping Force and Sri Lankan Army, the PLOTE leadership saw the Maldives as an excellent chance to maximize gains. Some sources state that the 'PLOTE' was also assured of being given control over some Maldivian islands which would help them carry out their illegal activities with freedom. The deal was struck and the planning phase started, Luthufee wanted to leave no stone unturned in making this coup a success, he roped in a few ex-military personnel in the Maldives to help them internally. Moreover, he believed the only hope for overthrowing the government lay in the physical absence of president Gayoom to resist the takeover and thence the Maldivian businessman started to wait for the right moment. He was so invested to topple the government that he gave up his poultry business and trained alongside the PLOTE cadres. A small window of opportunity appeared in October 1988 when the Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom planned a visit to India on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Luthufee was quick to pounce on the opportunity and on October 29, 1988, he and 80 heavily armed PLOTE cadres left the shores of Ceylon and began their sea journey towards the Maldives in two cramped fishing trawlers. PLOTE mercenaries were loaded with Assault Rifles, hand grenades, RPGs, Mortars, you name the weapon and ammunition and they had them in their bag. The president cancelled his Indian tour citing unknown reasons; some claim he was alerted to a possible coup attempt, but since the PLOTE cadres had already left the shores, they had no way to communicate and obtain this crucial information. After 4 days of a tiring journey, 80 PLOTE militants reached Malé on the dawn of November 3, 1988, and barged into the capital city forcing president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to go in hiding. The Republic of Maldives didn't have an Army, Navy or Air Force to look after the concerned boundaries rather they employed NSS(Nation Security Services) that looked after the security concerns of the island nation. Following the blood-shed coup, the National Security Service(NSS) headquarters was brought under seize along with the presidential palace and other buildings of importance.
The SOS and the Initial Plan
Within a few hours, the militants had spread throughout the island, they began to destroy equipment in telephone exchanges in order to hinder communication with the external world. Illiterate as they were, they failed to realize that they had not cut off the main supply to completely disconnect the telephonic conversations. After taking the capital city under seize, the wild lungi clad PLOTE militants were now looking for president Gayoom to take as a hostage, they had combed the entire city but couldn't find him. Interestingly, none of the militants had ever seen Gayoom, so they would not recognize the president even if he stood in front of them. While the rebels were on a hunt, president Gayoom had managed to seek shelter in a safe house and from there he resonated the SOS call to the US, India, UK, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia and other countries of the world. Sri Lanka prepared a team of 150 Special Task Force and kept them on standby at Ratmalana Air Base in Colombo. Pakistan denied the request citing the geographical distance and location while the US and UK did not want to directly intervene in the matter.
0600 hrs on November 3, 1988, a telephone call from the Indian High Commission in Malé urged the Indian leadership to take swift actions to help the Maldives. In a shaken and muffled voice, the staff of the Indian High Commission informed Kuldeep Sahdev, the joint secretary to Maldives, Burma and Sri Lanka in the Ministry of External Affairs about the seaborne militants who had barged into the capital city and had brought the NSS Headquarters and President House under seize. The assistance call was placed directly from the Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom through his foreign secretary Ibrahim Hussein Zaki. A series of phone calls were made by Joint secretary Kuldeep Sahdev to the PMO office where he briefed Ronen Sen, joint secretary in Rajiv Gandhi's PMO about the revolting situation in the neighbouring nation.
It was probably for the first time a neighbouring nation had asked for help against a coup attempt, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was willing to help, however, he was a little hesitant as the Indian Peace Keeping Forces in Sri Lanka were already fighting hard to maintain peace in Ceylon but while doing so, several Indian soldiers had fallen in the line of duty and going ahead with the military operation in the Maldives would mean more casualties-a cost PM Gandhi was unwilling to pay for. As the situation was brewing in Malé, Ronen Sen acting swiftly arranged a special meeting between the Prime Minister and secretaries of Cabinet, Press and the R&AW. Continuous calls were being made from Malé to New Delhi but there remained ambiguity about the number of militants who had entered the island nation with a motive to kill and topple the democratically elected government.
As soon as the SOS call was received, joint secretary Sahdev alerted Air Vice Marshal Denzil Keelor to keep transport aircraft ready in order to swiftly move troops to the Maldives. It was not the final plan rather an intuitive step taken by the joint secretary Sahdev to keep the logistics ready if the Rajiv Gandhi government decides to extend military help to the island nation beyond just the diplomatic lip-service. Rajiv Gandhi was on a visit to Patna and later had plans to land in Calcutta, however, he made a change in the itinerary to attend the all-important meeting that was planned to be held in the Ops room of the South Block. At around 8 am on November 3, Group Captain Ashok Goel(Joint Director, operations transport & helicopters) was called on by the Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Suri where he was inquired about the availability of the transport fleet. '5 IL II-76 aircraft and 16 AN-32s are available at Agra and another 14 AN-32s can be brought over to Agra from the Jorhat Base', replied Grp Cpt Goel. Air Marshal Suri then ordered to keep the fleet ready for an emergency operation in the Maldives.
Rajiv Gandhi walks into an Ops room at 8.40 am where defence secretaries, R&AW officials, and members of the three arms of the services are gathered. There was chaos for the first few minutes of the meeting; no one knew what plan to present to the Prime Minister given the ambiguity regarding the number of rebels already occupying the Malé. 'The call from the Indian High Commission, Malé and the Maldives foreign secretary Ibrahim Hussein Zaki too had kept the Indian leadership in dark as the numbers quoted were in the range between 200 and 500 or maybe more, that in itself is self-explanatory about the rank of available ground zero information.
The then Deputy Minister for Home, P Chidambaram present in the meeting offered the suggestion to fly the newly formed elite commando group NSG(National Security Guards), however, the Prime Minister and military officials believed sending the Army would be a better option. The idea to send the troop via sea was also given a thought but given the circumstances, it would have easily taken 3-4 days. The ground intelligence was sketchy and no military maps were available to pinpoint the location, in fact, a tourist map was utilized to ploy the operation later postcards from various hotels were used to brief the troops about the operation.
The No. 44 Squadron of the Indian Air Force and the 50(Independent) PARA Brigade of the Indian Army is based in Agra with a mere 5-6 km of walking distance between them. In the meeting, it was pitched that the airborne troops of the 50(Independent) PARA brigade would be flown in Ilyushin II-76 transport aircraft and dropped in Malé. But for an airdrop, the PARA Brigade would have needed an area large enough to allow for the parachute drifting and still land on solid ground. Given the landing condition, the Maldives didn't qualify for the airdrop. The Maldives is made of small islands with each island in itself formed of islets, had there been an airdrop, the casualty could have been around 40-50% as it's impossible to handle the parachute drift from a jump height of mere 2000 feet, likely the airborne troops would have landed over the sea and unable to remove the harness, they would have sunk in, hence the option was dropped.
The second possibility was to land the IL II-76 on Hulhule's tarmac and thence the PARA Brigade would secure the airport and use private tugboats to traverse to Malé, however, the R&AW officials weren't sure if the airport had fallen into militant hands or still remained safe. The Joint Secretary Ronen Sen suggested otherwise, pointing to the information sourced from the Maldivian Joint Secretary, he stated that the Hulhule airport was still under the guard of government forces. There was another hindrance since the size of the runway at Hulhule was unknown, it would have been ghastly to land such a giant transport aircraft. To solve this issue, Indian commercial pilots who had been landing there were contacted and it was told that the tarmac is long enough to support the landing of IL II-76 aircraft. The ATC(Air Traffic Control) at Hulhule was also contacted to have a password for a safe and secure landing. It was decided that after establishing successful contact with the aircraft, the ATC would switch on the runway lights and only switch the lights off after a successful touchdown. A landing password 'HADIYA'("gift" in local Dhivehi language) was also added to the pre-requisite. As of 10.40 am, the meeting concluded, and now it was up to the Indian Armed Forces to pull off the most daring military operation ever.
The Preparation
As part of the 'Operation Cactus', Farooq 'Bull' Balsara, the Commanding Officer of the 50(I) PARA Brigade, and Major Vinod Bhatia were key officials. On November 2/3 night, when the coup attempt was unfolding in Malé, the PARA brigade was getting ready for a yearly inspection. Major Vinod Bhatia, the Brigade major was busy preparing the book records for the inspection by the higher formations that was planned the next day. Brigadier FC Balsara was away for a visit to the Ordnance Park and in his absence, Major Vinod Bhatia received the telephone call from the DDGMO Brigadier VP Malik (later COAS). At around 10 am on November 3, Major Bhatia received the orders to keep a company of 100 troops ready at a 6-hour notice and a battalion of close to 800-900 men at standby on 12-hour notice. Another call was made from the Army headquarters and this time the Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lt Gen SF Rodrigues himself was on the line. Lt Gen Rodrigues told Major Bhatia that a company of Paratroopers should be kept ready to fly by 12.30 to the Maldives and the rest of the Brigade would be flown by night. To this, Major Bhatia informed VCOAS that none of the Battalions of the PARA Brigade was in full strength at Agra. 7 PARA had moved out for a training exercise, two companies of 6 PARA was on guard duty at the Agra Central Ordnance depot while a company of 3 PARA was out on guard duty of the Command House in Lucknow.
When Brigadier Balsara returned from his visit, Major Bhatia briefed him about the short operation notice. This briefing was followed by several phone calls from the Army Headquarters and the PMO. Brigadier Bulsara over the call told VCOAS(Vice Chief of Army Staff), Lt Gen SF Rodrigues, that if the operation was to be carried out under his command then he should be given the freedom of execution otherwise the Headquarters should find another man for the job. Brigadier Farooq 'Bull' Balsara was a rugged, flamboyant man who dared to do things, no one would take on, he truly lived on his own terms. By 11 am, at the Air Force Base in Kheria, Agra, three Ilyushin II-76 aircraft and ten Antonov 32s were ready waiting at the tarmac to fly out the paratroopers to the Maldives.
The 6 PARA Battalion commanded by Colonel Subhash Joshi was chosen to lead into the operation even though two of the companies of 6 PARA were away at guard duty of Central Ordnance Depot. Brigadier Balsara ordered the 6 PARA to join the rest of the regiment against the wishes of the higher officials. The initial plan of Bulsara was to land the 6 PARA at Hulhule airport provided the airport was in safe hands and if not the 6 PARA Battalion would be airdropped. In the second phase, 150 men of 6 PARA would be moved to secure the beachhead that would help to find and rescue the Maldivian president Gayoom. Another company of the 6 PARA would secure the airport and provide backup to the team at the beachhead. A company of 3 PARA would divert the PLOTE rebels from the beachhead. In the third phase, all the remaining troops would reinforce at Hulhule and in the last phase, president Gayoom would be moved to safety and the rest of the militants would be mopped out.
As the initial plan started to take a shape, another problem floated to the surface, IAF had earlier promised to provide the 160 D5 packed parachutes to the PARA Brigade but only 60 parachutes were available, however, Brigadier Balsara agreed and settled for the 60 chutes presuming the intelligence inputs that there would not be a need for the para drop. By 5 pm on November 3, two IL II-76 aircraft were ready with all the paratroopers emplaned and eager to land at Hulhule.
'Chhatri Mata Ki Jai'
A few minutes past 6 pm on November 3, 1988, the two Ilyushin II-76 transport aircraft, 'Friendly 1' (No. K-2878) and 'Friendly 2' (No. K-2999) throttled their engine and making pace on the Kheria Air Base's tarmac launched in the dusty and smoky sky of the Taj city. Flying at an altitude of 37,000 feet, the aircraft carrying the troop experienced a lot of turbulence due to the thunderstorms between Bangalore and Trivandrum which caused a great hindrance to the Dassault Mirages and AN-32s escorting the big Ilyushin. The pilots of the military carrier decided not to establish contact with the Trivandrum ATC even though they were flying within its scope, the pilot Capt Bewoor thought if the mercenaries by any means were able to make contact with the transmissions, the operation cactus would be over before it even started.
At 9.05 pm, just before making contact with the Hulhule ATC, the pilots of the IL II-76 aircraft contacted their parent base in Agra and transmitted information of the flight and slowly began their descent. At 9.25 pm, the pilots made first contact with the Hulhule ATC and transmitting the landing code 'HADIYA', Captain Bewoor asked the ATC to turn on the runway light. At a distance of 25 km from the landing strip, Capt Bewoor saw the lights blinking on the runway for a mere 10 seconds and then the runway disappeared in the darkness of the sea. From the above picture, it could well be perceived that the dilemma of landing at such a small strip in darkness could have scared any neophyte but these IAF pilots were very experienced, they had done innumerable sorties to Sri Lanka for the Peace Keeping mission. The mere 10 seconds of runway light was enough for Captain Bewoor and co-pilot to align the aircraft with the tarmac. There were no options, the landing had to be made in the first attempt, had there been a miss alignment, the aircraft would be forced to fly over and re-attempt the landing and by this time, the militants would have been alerted and the Indian troops would have to face an assault on landing. The crew cabin was so intense that one could literally hear one's own breath, but the pilots held on to their nerves and made a successful touchdown.
The cargo door of the Ilyushin aircraft slung open paving the way for the maroon beret soldiers to hop out of the carrier and take their respective positions. By the time the second aircraft 'Friendly 2' arrived, the troops from the first aircraft had taken up their respective tasks. After landing, the gunshot noises could be heard from a near distance, the rebels were all over the capital, hence the Indian troops needed to be quick. On arrival, the Commanding Officer of the 50(Independent) PARA Brigade, Brigadier Farooq Balsara and the troops were welcomed by Lieutenant Ahmed Zahir of the Maldivian security force(NSS). He then escorted Brigadier Balsara to the ATC tower and using the military maps, he briefed Brigadier about the locations where the Sri Lankan militants had attacked and seized the control. Brigadier Farooq Balsara then over secure lines contacted the safe house of Maldivian President Gayoom, the prez informed Balsara that they need to be quick in their action as the rebels were at a mere walking distance from his hiding location. "Mr President, the Indian Army has arrived and we will do our best", replied Brigadier Farooq 'Bull' Balsara assuring prez Gayoom of a beseeming action.
Having heard the gunshot noises, Brigadier Balsara's belief that the rebels would be present at beachhead firmed up. He then ordered a company of 6 PARA under Major RJS Dhillon to secure the beachhead while the Commanding officer of 6 PARA, Colonel Joshi was to look after the operations at Malé. Simultaneously, a platoon of 3 PARA under command of Captain RD Poonakar was launched for a diversionary attack on the jetty. It was done to divert the rebels to the main jetty while Major RJS Dhillon and his 6 PARA company secured the beachhead and rescued the president. The 6 PARA company launched itself in an array of boats while Captain Poonakar's 3 PARA company headed straight for the main jetty, the Poonakar's men were not supposed to land at the jetty rather act as a diversion to draw the militants away from the beachhead, however as the 3 PARA company closed into the jetty, the terrorists started to indiscriminately fire at them. The 3 PARA company thence needed no second call and the paratroopers launched themselves with all guns blazing and mopped the militants in few minutes.
At around 2.10 am on November 4, the president of the Maldives was rescued by the 6 PARA company but while Major Dhillon tried to persuade prez Gayoom to move to Hulhule, the president blatantly refused as he wanted to be taken to the NSS Headquarters but since the NSS was still under seize, he was taken to Hulhule. The main task of rescuing the president was over and now the troops were closing in to mop the militants out of the island nation. Meanwhile, the rest of the PARA Brigade and Army field Hospital arrived over to Hulhule from India in close to 60 sorties that were carried out by IAF that night. The Mi-8 choppers arrived by the dawn and helped in swiftly moving the troops from one island to another which proved to be time-consuming while using the boats. Dassault Mirages too made several low fly-pasts over the islands of the Maldives in a show of force that resulted in many militants surrendering to the Indian Forces while few militants including their leader Abdullah Luthufee tried to flee away.
Abdullah Luthfee seized control of the MV Progress Light that was anchored in Malé and along with a number of hostages including a Maldivian Minister forced the ship to sail. Brigadier Bulsara watched the ship sail out of Malé parallel to Hulhule with a bright beacon light that could clearly be distinguished in the darkness of the sea, Brigadier saw this as an excellent opportunity and ordered the men from 6 PARA to fire at the ship. Carl Gustav 84mm rocket launcher usually employed against the mighty tanks were used to fire at the ship. The ship could not be stopped but one of the rockets ricocheted off the sea surface and hit the steering mechanism rendering it useless, the MV Progress Light could now only sail in a straight direction. It later helped the Indian Navy to take control over the ship, since it only sailed in one direction, it could never get into the commercial ship lanes making it easier for Navy frigates to attack.
By 10 am on November 4, all the buildings including the NSS Headquarters and the presidential palace were disengaged from the hands of the PLOTE militants. Meanwhile, the ship carrying the PLOTE leaders and hostages was still at sea, a rough sketch of its location was made and it was found that the ship was 60 kilometres offshore from Malé. The Indian Navy directed its frigate 'INS Godavari' which was returning from Australia to intercept the MV Progress Light, the training frigate 'INS Betwa' was also directed to help 'INS Godavari' in intercepting the ship that was headed for Sri Lanka.
The ship 'INS Godvari' was commanded by Captain SV Gopalachari, he was given simple and straight orders to stop the MV Progress Light and rescue the hostages. On the interception, Captain Gopalachari gave several calls to the militants to surrender however, the rebels revolted by killing two hostages and throwing them into the sea. The PLOTE rebels thought that the Indian frigates would give up seeing the gruesome scenes and they kept pressing on. Seeing the mercenaries in no mood to surrender, Captain Gopalachari opened the first shellings. INS Betwa and INS Godavari kept on dropping charges that kept sending thuds of shockwaves to the MV Progress Light that resulted in Abdullah Luthufee's eventual surrender. Navy commandos thence stormed into the rebel ship and rescued the hostages but the negotiations had resulted in the killing of four hostages.
The news for the successful rescue of the hostages and surrender of the terrorists was relayed back to Delhi and Malé that eventually brought smiles on the faces of the Maldivians who had experienced a nightmare. By November 6, all the security charges were given back to the NSS and the Indian troop completed the withdrawal by November 13, 1988. It was Brigadier Balsara's audacious and flamboyant way of conduct, the courage of the Paratroopers, and the swiftness of the IAF and Indian Navy that contributed to the success of India's most daring military operation; 'Operation Cactus'.
Sources: Operation Cactus: Anatomy of One of India's Most Daring Military Operations, a book by Group Captain Ashok Chordia; Operation Cactus-Drama in the Maldives, a book by General VP Malik and Youtube/Blueskies Podcasts