The Jammu and Kashmir police have weaned away around 40 young men, mostly from south Kashmir, from joining the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen by tracking their activities on social media, a senior Home Ministry official said.
Security agencies in Kashmir are grappling with a growing number of youths joining the militant ranks and the authorities are nipping these attempts in the bud by identifying the probable recruits on the basis of their activities. A case in point is Pulwama district where 24 boys were dissuaded by the police in just two months. On September 24, at least 16 boys were handed over to their parents.
A top counter-insurgency officer told on condition of anonymity that Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani (22) was a “motivation for some of these boys.” “The video of Burhan and online activism did play a role in attracting these youths to militancy. Many youths were attracted to militancy after listening to separatist leaders’ speeches at the funeral of slain militants,” he added.
“The J&K police have a separate wing to track the online activities of these young men. While some operate with pseudo-identities, some are genuine accounts. Mostly they belong to Tral, Pulwama and other parts of south Kashmir. They are being counselled and dissuaded from joining the militant ranks,” said the Home Ministry official in Delhi.
The J&K police counselled these youths, mostly aged 14-17, by “providing Islamic perspective through religious preachers on how their decision to join militancy was un-Islamic and a legal perspective to dissuade them from joining the militants.” They were forewarned about “ruined career and the uselessness of violence to achieve any goal.”
“In most cases, parents did not know of the intentions of their wards. We also asked them to keep a close eye on their children,” said the counter-insurgency top cop.
He said that while most boys were teenagers, a few were regular college-goers in Srinagar, and one was pursing his Master’s through a private institution in Pulwama district.
“Most of them had no record of any anti-social activities or stone-pelting. It was through human intelligence that we were able to identify them,” said the official.
He admitted that in a few instances counselling failed, as in the case of Jehangeer Ganai, a resident of Pulwama’s Quail area. “Ganai has joined the militant ranks unfortunately,” said the officer.
