The large scale perfusion of easily available smart technology has literally made the security agencies cautious about the growing vast battle ground and with beyond the boundary technologies it has made these unassessable, at times legally. Confounded by such a situation even the security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir too are facing new enemy, the bedroom Jihadis, who manipulate social media from the comfort of their homes to spread rumours and influence youths. This was visible in the post-Burhan Wani killing. Street protests with stone throwing targeting security men and getting physical with them all have shown that the agencies are controlling such large crowd systematically. Psychological warfare which has been there in the form of spreading rumours, dropping pamphlets and today it is social media which is creating havoc. Created as a platform to spread knowledge and awareness among masses it has changed into a weapon of destruction in the hands of trouble makers. Far removed from conventional weaponry and the conventional fighting zones of the warren of narrow streets and forests, these new age Jihadis use computers and smart phones to wage war from just about anywhere in Kashmir or outside, safe inside their homes or out on the streets, from a nearby cafe or even just a convenient roadside location. It’s a new battleground and a new battle to confront with while dealing with law and order situation. With the annual Amarnath Yatra scheduled to begin end of this month there are apprehensions of Jihadis instigating communal riots in the Valley. Smart phones and social media apps today have become much easier to spread any rumours thus giving very little time to security agencies to react. Words and pictures leave larger impression on any one’s mind. All those restrictions clamped over 22 social media sites in Kashmir Valley hardly have been able to work as a damper for the rumour mongers and trouble creators as most of them found a way out through Virtual Private Networks (VPN) because clamp down on 3G and 4G networks the sharing of pictures was difficult otherwise rumour machinery was active in mobilising the crowd. It is virtual tough task for security agencies to counter such ‘wars’.
