Posters in Pulwama are threatening Kashmiri Hindus to exit the valley of Kashmir. The poster is allegedly been put up by Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) militant.
This is not the first time that Kashmiri Hindus have been threatened. In mass rapes and killings in the 90’s, a genocide by Kashmiri Hidus, there was a mass exodus of Hindus from the valley. Initially the government provided security to the population, but the then governor asked the minority population to exit to safety.
The black and white poster flaunts the flag and the logo of the outfit. What has created a flutter is the flag that is similar to the Jamat-ud-dawa, the fountainhead of Lashkar-e-Taiba headed by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
Laskar-E-Islam headed by Abdul Qayoom Najar and is a splinter group of the Hizbul Mujaheddin headed by Saeed Salahuddin.
Many in the security establishment are saying that it is a possibility that Hizbul Mujahhedin may be trying to get the Indian police to target Abdul Qayoom Najar, as he has created a new faction and it has hit the financial targets of the collection Hizbul Mujahhedin does. Jammu and Kashmir police has put a bounty of Rs one million on Qayoom Najar’s head.
Police are also saying that the posters seem to be the handiwork of the miscreants and they are in process of identifying the people behind it.
Hitherto unknown, LeI hogged the limelight in May last year when their posters appeared in apple rich township of Sopore asking the telcom operators to wind up business in north Kashmir. Six civilians, mostly telecom operators, former militants and supporters of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani were killed by LeI last year.
LeI operations mostly remained confined to north Kashmir in summer last year. Later this outfit mysteriously slipped into oblivion. However it is for the first time that LeI posters have appeared in south Kashmir.
“This outfit had foot prints in north Kashmir last year. It is for the first time we have heard about this outfit here”, Rayees Mohommad Bhat, superintendent of police, Pulwama, told dna.
“Fear is palpable because Kashmiri pandits think this is a serious warning to the community to leave the valley. Most of the Kashmiri migrants had shifted to Jammu after the stone pelting following the unrest after the killing of Hizbul Mujhadeen comander Burhan Wani", Vinod Pandit, chairman of All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC), an apex body of migrant Kashmiri Pandits, told dna
Superintendent of police, Pulwama said "Nobody has been identified so far. We are on it. We are doing our best,. We are trying to identify the miscreants. Security (of pandits) is already in place and in fact it has been doubled since the trouble started”, Bhat said.
Official figures reveal that around 62,117 migrant families from Kashmir mostly Hindus and Sikhs have fled Kashmir and many live in refugee camps.
