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'Operation Jackboot' claims its last high value target in killing of Riyaz Naikoo.  |  Photo Credit: IANS

Srinagar:The elimination of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Riyaz Naikoo on Wednesday by security forces has raised an alarm for Pakistan-based terror sponsors in the Jammu and Kashmir who propagate anti-India sentiments to destabilise peace in the Valley.

However, the execution of Naikoo was a meticulously planned operation, conceived by none other than National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Code named Operation Jackboot, the task to hunt down one of the most wanted terrorists in the Valley was supervised personally by NSA Doval. Naikoo was the last high-value target in the operation.

The operation was conceived after Pulwama, Kulgam, Anantnag and Shopian in south Kashmir were christened Liberated areas by Pakistan-backed militants.

Homegrown militancy was getting on the nerves of Indias security forces.

Naikoo, aka Bin Qasim, had become the de facto commander of the proscribed terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen after Burhan Wani, the poster boy of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, was eliminated in July 2016.

Qasim, rated as an A++ category terrorist or most-wanted militant, had been on the run for over eight years and carried a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head.

The encounter of Burhan Wani sparked a massive uproar in the Valley and the ripple effects were felt as far as Islamabad. Locals look out a funeral procession for Wani and the subsequent violence that erupted in the Valley is still fresh in our minds.

Naikoo was counted as one from the Burhan group of Kashmiris.

The group consisted of Wani and his terror associates Sabzar Bhat, Waseem Malla, Naseer Pandit, Ishfaq Hameed, Tariq Pandit, Afaqullah, Adil Khandey, Saddam Paddar, Wasim Shah and Anees, news agency IANS reported.

These locals became poster boys of militancy in Kashmir and such was their authority, foreign terrorists were pushed to the background.

The Burhan gang of terrorists romanced the picturesque Himalayan region and seduced the educated, yet unemployed, youth of the Valley with a new-found objective in their lives.

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Operation Jackboot: NSA Ajit Dovals brainchild that eliminated Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo - Times Now