DOST KHAN
Jammu: At a time when Home Minister Rajnath Singh is exploring possibilities for combating use of social media in perpetrating terror with his Israel counterparts, Kashmiri secessionists have gone viral with poll boycott campaign through Facebook. Scuttling upcoming democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir is a sinister and comprehensive agenda of Pakistan, terrorists and secessionists on this side of the border. There is hardly any difference between terrorists and Kashmiri secessionists; both are two faces of the same coin and therefore switching over to poll boycott through social media should be seen as agenda formulated across the border.
Rajnath Singh is close to the harsh reality in his comprehension of social media being used for indoctrination by Jihadi elements. The terrorists and their soft version of stone pelters have made optimal use of social media in sustaining hate-India syndrome in the Valley and elsewhere. They are cleverly using the soft-paddling of Indian civil society activists, self-styled human rights groups and pseudo secularists to tarnish the image of armed forces, paramilitary forces and Indian Union in the larger context. They are, in fact, hammering India by Indian tools itself. Such a dilemma has left no option for the successive governments but to indulge in appeasement policy towards secessionists, which has got acceptability and respectability with Government of India and Track-II diplomats always remaining in the lookout for roping separatists in. The Atal Behari Vajpayee Government with so-called iron man L. K. Advani, as Deputy Prime Minister incharge Home also became victim of appeasement syndrome between 1999 and 2004 when they opened up channels with secessionists and terrorists. One only looks with a hope to Narendra Modi led government, which has a daunting task of ensuring the upcoming elections in a secure environment.
The separatists, who are now immune to hide and seek policy of the meek State Government, which does not dare to put them behind the bars and instead resort to house arrests, have switched over to Facebook and Whatsaap for enforcing poll boycott. Reportedly chronic secessionists Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar and Asiya Andrabi have been featured on short video clips which have gone viral. These messages ask the people to vigorously boycott the elections. One of the clippings shows Geelani telephonically addressing a gathering, asking them ‘not to undermine the mission of the martyrs’, according to a news agency. Isn’t it time for Election Commission of India and respective governments to act and book the cohesive tactics of the enemy’s of the nation and democracy?
Social media has created havoc in the strife-torn Kashmir Valley in the past. During 2010 gruesome stone pelting campaign, a sinister and well planned strategy was being carried out on YouTube across the world with lyrics of the song ‘Stone in My Hand’. And when the police launched manhunt for the person who had posted it on YouTube, another video with lyrics, ‘I got no pistol, ain’t got no sword. I got no army, ain’t got no land. All I got is stones in my hand’. The social networking sites like Facebook played disastrous role with studies revealing that a majority of posts by terror sympathisers used ‘Azadi’ (freedom), stone pelting and violence in their wall posts.
In September 2010 wall posts, people used ‘freedom’ 97 per cent of the time followed by “go India go back’ at 88 per cent. The mobilization routes such as “share the news about protests,’ ‘spread the news about Indian oppression,’ ‘links to photos,’ ‘links to local stories,’ ‘ links to videos’ appeared 94 per cent, 90 per cent, 87 per cent, 86 per cent and 84 per cent respectively, in the 36 wall posts and comments. For the information exchange route, features like ‘share updates about what’s going on in your areas’ was mentioned 75 per cent of the time and ‘curfew tomorrow’ was mentioned 68 per cent of the time in September posts. The entire Kashmir situation was being remote controlled through social network. The ‘anti-India’ administrators had set up sites like, Freedom of Dawn’, ‘Aalaw’ (call), ‘Hoshar Jamat’ (Awakened Group), ‘Balayi Khuda’ (God’s wrath) and ‘We love Syed Ali Shah Geelani’ pages.
The menace seems to be unending even now. Browse any site and one is shocked to see misleading propaganda unleashed by terror mongers, their sympathizers and soft-secessionists of the Valley. The poll boycott campaign has added yet another feature to this perturbing trend.