Ajit Doval showers praise on Kashmir forces for Riyaz Naikoo Op, then stern advice

At his five-hour long meeting to review the operational strategies and tactics of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval showered praises on security forces for the successful elimination of Kashmir's Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo over the week. In that praise, Doval also slipped in a message: the importance of developing actionable human intelligence and operational synergy among forces fronting the counter-terror operations.

The Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police had been working on people in the Kupwara district who had had access to Riyaz Naikoo. As J&K police chief Dilbag Singh told this newspaper later, one of them was a man who had played a role in building the secret bunker in his native village in south Kashmir's Pulwama. The intelligence was pinpointed. The security forces didn't give up when they couldn't locate him in the first round and kept up the search.

Riyaz Naikoo's elimination, a serious setback to terror group Hizbul Mujahideen in south Kashmir, is considered one of the most successful security operations in recent months in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a video of Naikoo's boss mourning his death, the Hizbul founder who also leads the Pakistan's ISI-backed alliance of terror groups United Jihad Council, Syed Salahuddin said the mujahideen (terrorists) had broken the back of the enemy (India) in Handwara Rajwar recently "but the enemy (India) has the edge".

Ajit Doval's meeting of top army commanders and chiefs of all intelligence and paramilitary forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir was convened to sharpen this edge.

(Inputs and image from hindustantimes.com)