The police have constituted special monitoring cells to prevent militancy related stuff from getting circulated on the social networking sites.
The move from security agencies came after militants started using the networking sites to lure the youth into their ranks. Many youth have been drawn towards militancy in South Kashmir after HM militants of Burhan module released their videos and photos on internet.
Following the increasing presence of militants on the social networking sites, Police have started monitoring a number of pages and groups. “The monitoring has been intensified,” said a senior police official. Currently over 100 online groups are under scanner.
The police claims to have launched a crackdown against youth active on a number of pages and groups. “Some youth were arrested for uploading ‘negative content’ on social media. Many groups became inactive following police crackdown,” they said.
However police officials said that monitoring a large number of sites on internet is posing a challenge for them. “Militant videos, photos and other content get circulated through a number of sites and groups. It is not possible for us to monitor each and every thing on internet,” said an officer of counterinsurgency wing of police in South Kashmir.
“These days everybody has a phone and he can shot whatever he likes,” a police officer said, referring to a video that surfaced in September 2014 featuring group HM militants in army fatigues
shooting their videos with cell phones. When asked how these videos get circulated, officials said that the militants have recruited over ground workers (OGWs) to circulate the stuff.
“The videos get circulated through over-ground workers of militants and these videos get instantly viral,” said an official, adding that identifying original source of the video was not an easy task.
“When a mobile phone is used it is easy to trace the number but accounts on face-book are run on false names and identity of users remains hidden due to which tracing such persons is a challenge for us,” the
police officials said.
Security officials believe that negligible infiltration across border was the main reason for militants turning to internet to draw youth for internal recruitment. According to officials presence of militants in Valley is
low and social networking sites are the mediums for militants to make their presence felt.
The police here said that teenagers get influenced by the content who enjoy sharing such things on their personal pages. “The teenagers will always look for things that are most discussed,” they said.
According to police officials most of the youth they have identified for uploading “negative” things or circulating rumors on internet were either graduating or aspiring post graduates.
“When we arrest them, parents of the youth want us to be kind to them. They want us not to register FIR’s pleading that career of their children would be spoiled but law doesn’t allow us to do it,” they said, adding
that in coming days the monitoring would be intensified.
