Rumour mills thrive in Kashmir during unrest

As Kashmir valley was in the grip of unrest for about three weeks, rumour mills worked overtime to contribute to the instability.

According to police, politicians and moderate separatist leaders, rumour-mongering had been the biggest tool for the miscreants and hardliners to prolong the unrest.

Police, which had been battling street protests, had to spend a considerable time in countering the rumours.

Rumours ranged from resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to death of a separatist leader, firing by security forces or a youth being run over by a security vehicle -- all helping in fomenting trouble in parts of the valley, especially the city.

Police heaved a sigh of relief over the decision of putting a temporary ban on short messaging services which had virtually turned into the most handy tool for spreading the rumours. Police have also decided to register cases for incitement of violence against some bulk SMS service providers who ostensibly work as news agencies.

Rumour-mongering, ironically, is not an offence until it leads to a serious offence, senior police officials say while listing one of incidents in which a television channel aired a wrong news leading to widespread riots in Pulwama district in South Kashmir. A case of incitement to violence has been registered against the channel.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan in his book "My Frozen Turbulence" has highlighted the role of rumour mills in Kashmir.

"...The militants and their propaganda outfits, and the rumour mill, which always work overtime churning out stories of excesses, of atrocities and loss of life...," the former governor wrote.

That holds true even now. "We do get over 100 phones during the day from various politicians asking whether firing has taken place in one place or the other. We try to ascertain the source of such news and are shocked to find that they are only based on hearsay," says a senior police official.

Rumours have not spared separatist leaders and are giving them sleepless nights too.

A moderate separatist leader called up a news organisation asking whether people were marching towards his residence. The leader had also called some of his "friends" in New Delhi informing them about the same till police had to assure him that there was no such report.