Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 4: Notwithstanding the claim of the Union Home Ministry that there was no presence of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Kashmir, local terrorists in Kashmir are reportedly a worried lot after the killing of a policeman in the Soura area of Srinagar last Sunday. The IS had claimed that it was responsible for the attack. Policeman Farooq Ahmad Yatoo was guarding the house of Hurriyat leader Fazal Haq Quershi when he was attacked and the terrorists escaped with gun. The seriously injured Yatoo later died in the hospital.
According to reports, what has made the ISIS challenge "even more pertinent for Kashmir is that with its 'retreat' from Iraq and Syria, the attacks in the Kashmir Valley can be seen as an attempt by the group to open new battlefields and thereby assert its relevance".
"The ISIS' presence," according to credible reports, "has also alarmed the local terrorist groups and separatists in the Valley, who have urged Kashmiris not to fall prey to the designs of the ISIS".
Syed Salahuddin, the Pakistan-occupied-Jammu & Kashmir-based self-styled chief of the Hizbul Mujahidieen (HM) had, according to a report, "released a video statement last year urging Kashmiris not to join any 'global jihadi movement". "Some of our friends are playing in the hands of our enemy and trying to create a divide between people and their leadership. Our movement is an indigenous movement. The freedom movement of Jammu and Kashmir has no worldwide agenda, no links with organizations like Islamic State or Al-Qaeda," Salahuddin had said in his video statement. He had added that "such organizations (ISIS) have no role in Kashmir". Experts have also givens the security agencies and the concerned authorities to understand that it would be suicidal if the issue of presence of the ISIS in Kashmir was downplayed.
"The ISIS' presence in Kashmir Valley cannot be downplayed. The arrival of the ISIS has naturally irked the local militant organizations, and can potentially spark a rivalry between these militant organizations, for recruits and carrying out more attacks. That in turn has the potential to complicate Valley's security situation," claimed a security analyst at Gateway House. Gateway House is a Mumbai-based foreign policy think-tank. In the meantime, the Director General of Police, SP Vaid, has reportedly asserted that "it was indeed an IS attack". "It was now clear that the IS had carried out the attack and it was indeed a worrying sign," the DGP Jammu and Kashmir has been quoted as saying. |
