Peace in danger as videos on social media add fuel to fire

Peace seems perpetually in danger in Kashmir as multiple videos showing security forces personnel forcing youth to shout anti-Pakistan slogans and militants forcing pro-India political workers to chant anti-India slogans have gone viral on social media.

On Saturday two videos, showing military personnel beating up youth and forcing them to shout anti- Pakistan slogans, surfaced on social media triggering a wave of anger across the Valley. Hours later, another video surfaced in which a worker of the ruling PDP and trader from south Kashmir were forced by armed militants to chant anti-India slogans.

Earlier, last week video of para-military CRPF personnel being roughed up and abused by stone-pelting mobs in central Kashmir’s Budgam district on April 9, led to an uproar across the country. Just a day later, a video surfaced showing a man being tied to an army jeep as a human shield against stone-pelters during re-polling for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on April 12.

The appearance of such videos on social media has added fuel to the fire as the Valley was already simmering in anger after the killing of eight civilian protesters on last Sunday when by-poll was held for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

“See the coward act of army, students being ruthlessly beaten, But Tyranny ends when it increases,” wrote a netizien on his facebook while uploading a video of security personnel beating youth and forcing them to shout anti-Pakistan slogans.

A senior police officer said the uploading of provocative videos on social media has created a new wave of sympathy with militants and stone-pelters in Kashmir. “The worrisome trend is that sympathy for militants and stone pelters is spreading from south Kashmir to other parts of the Valley. The local recruitment into militancy is turning Kashmir back to 90’s era,” he told Deccan Herald.

If reports are to be believed, more than 200 local youths have joined different militant outfits in Kashmir, particularly south Kashmir, after Burhan Wani's death in July last year. “The difference between the present day militancy and that during the early 1990s is that the ideological conviction of the present lot of militants is far more superior than that of the terror groups during the early days,” the officer said.

“The boys joining militancy have pan-Islamic ideology and they are more than ready to die for the cause. That is the reason that most of the times when they are caught in an encounter with security forces, they prefer to die fighting than surrendering,” he revealed.