Q. Why a book on the 26/11 attacks now, after six years?
A. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the US resulted in the comprehensive 9/11 Commission Report, which clinically analysed the outrage and generated a slew of recommendations. Closer home, the Kargil War of 1999 led to the outstanding Kargil Review Committee report of 2000. The 26/11 attacks on Mumbai were among the most sensational terrorist attacks on Indian soil. It was, in a sense, the globalisation of terrorism in India, combining all its aspects — suicide attackers armed with guns and grenades, seaborne infiltration, car bombs and hostage situations.

Recent revelations by LeT scout David Headley point to active collaboration of state actors inside Pakistan. Yet, there was no commission of inquiry ordered by the central government. (The Pradhan committee had a limited mandate where it had to look into the Mumbai Police’s response to the incident).

There was nothing which established how critical decisions were taken in those 60 hours or how the system failed to predict such an attack despite there being intelligence, and failing to mitigate it when the tools were available. Such questions linger. This book is an attempt to understand the sequence of events leading to the deployment of the NSG (National Security Guard) and what lessons security forces can learn to be better prepared for such strikes.

Q. How different will this book be from plenty of literature that has been published and released (including movies too) about the 26/11 attacks?
A. The 26/11 attacks were the first time when all three armed forces were called in to fight terror. This book is the first semi-official account of how they responded and looks at the military aspect of the attacks. Through interviews with the principal players in the armed forces, I have established the precise sequence of events of that night. These officials have never been spoken to before, and what they told me was startling.