In a huge victory for the security forces, one of the most wanted terrorists in Kashmir, top LeT commander Abu Dujana was killed this morning in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

 

 

Dujana, who was killed along with another Lashkar terrorist, had reportedly gone to meet his wife when the encounter began.

So why is this killing so significant? Dujana, an LeT divisional commander, who had given security forces the slip 5 times, figures on a list of most wanted terrorists compiled by the Army in June this year. Described as an A++ category terrorist, Dujana carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. Security forces believe he had masterminded several terror attacks on convoys of security forces on Jammu and Kashmir’s highways including the Pampore terror attack that killed 8 CRPF men last year.

But even as security forces achieved this major victory by eliminating a most wanted terrorist you had the unfortunate but by now all too familiar scenes playing out in the valley in the aftermath of the encounter. As soon as word about Dujana’s killing spread, angry Kashmiri youth took to the streets in many parts of the Valley including Pulwama and Srinagar and clashed with the security forces pelting stones at them.

The question we’re asking tonight is how much of an impact is Abu Dujana’s killing likely to have on the ground situation in the Kashmir valley? And with civilians coming out on the streets in large numbers almost routinely and attempting to disrupt sensitive anti-terror operations not only jeopardizing the operations but also their own lives and those of security forces in the process, just how should security forces deal with this growing challenge?

See the debate on the link below.

Gen Asthana, Chief Instructor, USI of India.

( Available as Shashi Asthana on Facebook, Linkedin,Twitter, and Google plus.)