In the era of information warfare, false narratives and social media, one of the cardinal sins of a counter-terrorist operation is to project the adversary.
In a larger-than-life role and end up demoralizing its own forces. The inadvertent or deliberate mistake also provides oxygen to the terrorists and their mentors and gives another lease of life to the political cause behind the strike.
An example is the Kokernag CT operation in Jammu and Kashmir by Indian security forces, where the Indian Army lost brave 19 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) Commanding Officer Col Manpreet Singh, company commander Major Ashish Dhonchak, JKP Deputy SP Humayun Bhat and trooper Pardeep Singh on September 13 at Gadole Forest of Kokernag in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. The operation was completed after six days on September 19 with all the top Army and Police commanders visiting the spot.
While a top JKP police official during the encounter claimed that two to three terrorists were holed up at a height in Gadole forest, fact is that only one local terrorist Mohammed Uzair Khan was involved in the fire-fight and was killed in the encounter. Resident of Nagam, Kokernag, Uzair belonged to Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group and was classified as a “B” category terrorist in police record since he became active in July 2022with three FIRs related to lobbing of grenade at a CRPF bunker in Anantnag and firing on non-locals in his home district registered against him.
While there is no reason to question the CT tactics of the Indian security forces, the Kokernag encounter remained in the headlines for a week with projection of terrorists holding against the might of the Indian Army and JKP. It is now evident that Uzair got lucky and got the Indian braves in single burst of armor piercing bullets fired from AK-47 rifle on September 13. The Indian retaliation took care of the LeT terrorist perhaps the same day. But the image of Indian security forces using drones to plaster the encounter site with explosives gives a larger-than-life image to the jihadis or so-called “Ghazis(holy Islamic warriors)”, who believe that they have been ordained to liberate Kashmir. The narrative also got amplified with all the top commanders landing at the encounter site. The question that needs to be asked is why did the operation go on for six days if there was only one terrorist. And that too in times of battle theatre transparency through drones and technical intelligence.
After the Indian Army lost its officers and troopers in April 20, May 5, August 5 and now September 13 encounters with Pakistan-trained terrorists, there is perhaps a need to revisit the adherence to standard operating procedures or else the myth of a “Ghaznavi” force with fighters who trained with Taliban will be strengthened and in turn lower the morale of the forces. The loss of five Special Forces men in Rajouri on May 5 to Pak terrorists is an unfortunate example that will lend credence to the mythical fighting skills of Pakistani jihadists.
The facts on ground are however to the contrary with Indian security forces managing to kill no less than 20 foreign terrorists and nine local terrorists in Kashmir zone from January 1, 2023 this year. In the Jammu zone, no less than 15 foreign terrorists and only one local terrorist has been killed with the local village defence committees and the special police officers acting as big force multipliers in exterminating the pest from across the border.
Contrary to the projection by local media of the Kokernag encounter, the Indian security forces have been successful in neutralizing the terror threat from across while the deliberate operations conducted by Indian Army are understandable as no force likes to lose men to a suicide attacker. But it is an over-the-top description of battle and terrorist numbers without total visibility of encounter theatre that needs to be avoided as it sends a wrong message on both sides of the LoC and embarrasses Bharat.