One for all, all for one!

The National Security Guards, who swear by this motto, lost a commando during the gun battle with the two terrorists inside the sprawling Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat.

The Black Cats, as the NSG are called because of their black uniform, is India's elite anti-terrorism force.

The Black Cats were set up in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar, when the Indian Army forcefully entered the Golden Temple, the most important religious shrines of the Sikhs, in June 1984 to flush out Sikh terrorists hiding in the temple complex. In the hunt for the terrorists, the Golden Temple suffered considerable damage. It was then that security experts advocated the need for a special force for executing such precise operations against terrorists rather than use the Indian Army.

Established under the National Security Guard Act 1985, the Black Cats are today the country's premier counter-terrorist force conducting anti-sabotage checks, countering hijackings, rescuing hostages from kidnappings, neutralizing terrorist attacks to vital installations, and providing security to important politicians.

"The NSG goes in, strikes, achieves its objectives, and quietly comes back, just like the mythological chakra (disc) which would behead the demons and return to the finger of Lord Krishna," says Nikhil Kumar, who once served as director general of the elite force.

Kumar feels the NSG is one of the finest counter-terrorist units in Asia and the force has acquired great experience from varying insurgency operations, especially in Kashmir, and in Punjab when terrorism was at its peak there.

However, other former officers of the approximately 7,500-strong NSG lament that its role as South Asia's best anti-terrorism force has been eroded over the years because some Indian politicians use the Black Cats as personal bodyguards and a status symbol.

"Ours is the best-trained and dedicated combat force in the country. But our only grouse is that we are being deployed to hunt for forest smuggler Veerappan and to guard some irrelevant political leaders," pointed out one former NSG officer.

The NSG personnel are evenly divided into two groups -- the Special Action Group and the Special Rangers Group. The former is the elite and offensive wing with members drawn from the Indian Army. The latter has members on deputation from central paramilitary organisations like the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Rapid Action Force.

The crack force has some of the toughest training schedules. On an average, a commando fires more than 2,000 rounds of live ammunition during practice sessions every year. For two months every year, the Black Cats spend on alert status, firing some 14,000 rounds to ensure that their strike rate is above 85 percent. The NSG has set up an Electronic Combat Shooting Range outside Delhi to improve the shooting skills of the Black Cats.

Some NSG operations over the years: