Separatists say it shows Mujahids are not terrorists * Police, BJP hail it as change of heart among youth
For a change, the anti-Islamic State (IS) banners have made a debut in the militancy-hit Kashmir valley.
Masked youth waved anti-IS banners in Nowhatta area of the sensitive old Srinagar city post Friday prayers before vanishing in the thin air.
A banner, showing an IS commander wearing a bushy beard with the outfit's black flag with Kalima (the first basic fundamental of Islam) in the backdrop, was waved by the small group of youth after they scaled a small wall. It had a banner headline written in Urdu, screaming: "Allah does not permit us to wage jihad against Israel". And on the bottom it asked: "Does Allah allow you to bomb mosques?"
The banners were put up in the area which is notorious for waving IS, Pakistan and other flags, mostly after the Friday prayers. It is always followed by heavy stone-pelting on the security forces' deployments.
"Obviously, it is a positive trend. For the first time it has happened. Whenever we arrest a stone pelter, we counsel him...make him understand what is right and what is wrong. May be this worked," Mudasir Shafi, station house officer of Nowhatta police station, told dna.
Sajid Khaliq, superintendent of police, North City, told dna, said though it is too premature to say anything, it seems to be a change of heart among the youth.
"Our endeavor has always been to get to closer to people. Hopefully, it (putting up anti-IS flag) will help us in our endeavor," Sajid Khaliq, superintendent of police, North City, told dna.
Separatists too have jumped onto the bandwagon to claim credit for the change of heart among some of the youth. "It's a victory of our stand. From the day one we have been saying they (IS) are not Mujahids but terrorists. Now, people are getting aware which is a great thing. We should be able to differentiate and tell the world that our movement has nothing to do with terrorism," said Ayaz Akbar, spokesman of hard-line faction of Hurriyat Conference, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), the ruling alliance partner of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), went gaga saying this proves that Kashmiris do not support terrorism in any form. "These IS flags were shown by certain anti-Kashmir elements. Displaying the anti-IS flags by some youth is a very good sign. It shows people of Jammu and Kashmir does not support terrorism in any form," said Khalid Jahangir, BJP spokesman for Kashmir.
In the last few years, the Kashmir valley has been witnessing hoisting of IS flags and banners by some masked youth particularly in old city after Friday prayers.
Police had picked up several youth since the hoisting of the flags in 2014, but investigation did not reveal any organisational structure for the IS in the valley. Even separatist leaders including pro-Pakistan Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani have openly condemned IS and stated that there are no traces of the dreaded outfit in the valley.
Last year director general of police K Rajendra Kumar had ruled out IS presence in the Kashmir valley. "Every case (of raising IS flags) is being investigated. We have not seen such (IS) ideology in Kashmir," Rajendra told reporters at Kishtwar in Jammu division on November 16.
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