In his death, the terrorist wanted to kill people. Security forces saved lives, viral picture not the entire story

‘A picture speaks a thousand words’. This is taught in almost every journalism school, but what they don’t teach is that every picture has a story, and if presented in the wrong way, it becomes a tool to spread propaganda.

Doing rounds on social media is an image from Thursday’s encounter in Jhajjar Kotli and I also can be seen in the picture - some being an eyewitness to the event take the privilege to decipher what is there in the picture and what is being presented by the Army baiters.

The picture shows that the legs of a dead terrorist have been tied with ropes and few army jawans are dragging it and I am also seen in the picture reporting the event.

Now, the army baiters and the so-called human rights defenders are sharing the same picture with various captions abusing the army, alleging it to be a human rights violation, that of a dead terrorist who was heavily harmed to kill civilians and security forces. But for these opportunists, the human rights of civilians and security force personnel does not matter.

But let me decipher the picture for our readers and the army baiters.

This is the picture of the third terrorist who was gunned down in the Jhajjar Kolti encounter. Initially, he was injured in the encounter and was lying hidden in the nearby field aiming to target the civilians.

When this terrorist saw that civilians, including journalists had gathered at the site of encounter, he started firing and throwing grenades indiscriminately towards the civilians and the security force personnel. His aim was to kill as many civilians as he could, but thanks to the security force personnel, the civilians were saved and this dreaded terrorist was killed.

Now, what happened afterwards and at the time of clicking this picture, this terrorist was carrying large quantity of explosives with him and there was also a possibility that he was wearing a booby trap.

Taking out the body from the field was risk that somebody had to take, so it was decided that a rope will be thrown towards him and it would be used to take him out of the field and towards a roadside, from where the body would be sent for post mortem.

The aim was to ensure that there was no loss of life or any other damage, hence, the rope was tied to the legs of this third terrorist and the body was removed safely. I was reporting on how the terrorist, even after his death, had plans to kill as many people as he can.

The security forces ensured that there was no loss of life, so they removed all the explosives from his body and later, the body was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and in the process, it was necessary to drag the body for few meters to ensure that all the explosives were removed. 

Now, the army baiters, who say that the dragging of the body of the killed terrorist was unfair, would not had spoken a single word had the bombs attached to his body exploded and shattered the same body into minute pieces.

As a journalist who has covered large number of such encounters, it was necessary to ensure that the lives of civilians and security forces personnel are saved.

As the picture has gone viral, I have been getting calls from many journalists to tell that that army had defiled the body of the killed terrorist, but when I say that they had not and it was an operational requirement, they disconnect the phone, because these army baiters won’t listen to facts and would write or report what suits their agenda.