Most Wanted Profiles of Terror

K.P.S. Gill, as director general of police, Punjab, led one of the most successful counter-terrorist operations in the history of terrorism, bringing the state from the verge of disintegration to complete normalcy. He served in the Assam Cadre of the Indian Police Service between 1958 and 1983, handling a range of assignments during periods of extended political strife and the emergence of terrorism in that state. In the 1980s, when Punjab emerged as the most serious threat to India’s integrity since Independence, he was inducted into the state as inspector general of police [Operations] and was eventually elevated to the rank of director general of police [DGP]. In 1988, he planned and executed ‘Operation Black Thunder’, a critical success in the war against terrorism. After his retirement from the IPS, he has served as a member of the National Security Advisory Board, and of the North-East Study Group of the ministry of home affairs. He is the founding president of the Institute for Conflict Management, publisher and editor of Faultlines: Writings on Conflict & Resolution, and author of Knights of Falsehood (1997), a book exploring the abuse of the Sikh identity and the teachings of the Sikh Gurus by politicians and terrorists in Punjab.