Boycott I-day, say ultras

Threatening the Jammu and Kashmir police with serious consequences if they do not stop harassing locals, militants have asked the people in the Valley to stay away from Independence Day functions.

Printed posters, claimed to have been issued by Jaish-e-Muhamad (JeM) militant outfit and appearing in different areas of south Kashmir’s Pulwama town, asked the people to boycott the August 15 celebrations. The posters also warned teachers of dire consequences in case they force students to participate in these functions.

“We appeal the people of the district not to participate in any function and rather observe the day as black day,” read the posters.

The diktat also warned the police to stop harassing locals. “Policemen should not harass and commit atrocities on the locals and if they don’t refrain from doing so they will be taken to the task by JeM,” the posters read.

The police, however, denied the reports of posters appearing in the town and termed them as mere rumours.

Pulwama Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar termed the posters as a prank. “Though there were rumours of posters being pasted in some areas of the town, but when our team went to check it, they did not find any posters,” he said.

Last week hitherto unknown militant outfits had asked women in Kashmir to observe “purdah” and not to use mobile phones in public. The handwritten posters of “Lashkar al-Qaeda” and “Alqaeda Mujahideen” appearing in south Kashmir’s Shopian district had also asked panchyat members to resign within a week.

However, the police later termed it as the handiwork of two school dropouts and ruled out any existence of such militant outfit.