Fearing ISIS influence, Kashmir authorities monitor social media

Concern mounts following appearance of ISIS flags in the north Indian state.

Srinagar:  Security agencies in Indian Kashmir have begun an intensive monitoring of digital communications, saying they are concerned propaganda disseminated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will lure local youth to their cause.

Security agencies have begun scanning email accounts and popular social media sites including Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype and other applications.

“Social networking sites require constant vigil. I am confident that youth in the valley cannot be impressed or influenced by IS or any other radical organization but we are keeping vigilant on social networking,” K Rajendra, director general of the police of Jammu and Kashmir state, told ucanews.com.

The move to monitor social media sites comes after the arrest of Mehdi Masroor Biswas, author of the highly influential pro-ISIS twitter account @ShamiWitness, on December 13 in Bangalore, southern India.

Prior to his arrest, security agencies have been cautious about the presence of ISIS supporters in the valley since August, when ISIS flags appeared in Srinagar during protests against the Gaza crisis.

Umar Altaf, a young video journalist in Srinagar, told ucanews.com that he had to spend hours in the police custody after he captured footage of youth waving the ISIS flags during the protest.

“Police officials asked me to name the youth who waved the flags,” he said.

In October, there were again reports of some masked youth carrying the flags during a protest held after Friday prayers in Jamia Masjid area of Srinagar.

Arrests were made but police eventually dismissed the cases saying that those carrying the flags didn’t understand their symbolism and had just been waving them for “fun”.

However, Lt Gen Subrata Saha, general officer in command of the army's 15 corps, said “the emergence of the ISIS flags [during protests] merits concern and deserves the highest attention of the security agencies to prevent the youth of Kashmir from getting lured [into ISIS].”

Sheikh Khalid, a student of political sciences at a Kashmir university, said that pro-extremist graffiti and banners do not equate to ISIS’s growth on the soil of Kashmir but noted that the threat of radicalization remained.

“Social media can be used for such acts and there is a possibility of youth getting swayed by such slogans of Jihad,” he said.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in September the creation of an Indian affiliate group.

In a video statement, Zawahiri had said that al-Qaeda will "raise the flag of jihad" across the Indian subcontinent. "Our brothers in Burma, Kashmir, Islamabad, Bangladesh, we did not forget you and will liberate you from injustice and oppression," he said.

Experts believe that although it would be impossible for the radical Arab groups to reach Kashmir physically, they could make their ideological presence felt through the medium of social networking sites.

For parents, too, the social media boom and the presence of extremist elements in social networking sites is becoming a growing concern.

Mukhtar Ahmad, a Srinagar-based resident, told ucanews.com that he has begun to keep watch on his 20-year-old son as he spends a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter.

“Youth can get swayed away by the emotional slogans. The militant groups have found an easy medium to propagate their message. We have to stop our children from getting lured towards the destructive path,” Ahmad said.

Source: ucanews.com