‘Lashkar-e-Islam’ sets 24-hours deadline to shut cellphone operations in Kashmir

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, May 29: After grinding to a halt mobile telephony in Sopore, Baramulla and Pattan townships of northern Kashmir by a chain of attacks that had left two persons dead and three more wounded, ‘Lashkar-e-Islam’ outfit has issued a fresh warning and asked the network operators and recharge outlets to close down their operations permanently in entire Kashmir valley within 24 hours.

Hours before Friday’s rifle grenade attack on two mobile phone signal towers which missed the target at Ganjoo House in Sopore [see box], mysterious guerrilla outfit ‘Lashkar-e-Islam’ said in unequivocal terms that it wanted total closure of the mobile telephone system in entire Kashmir valley.

“From now on, if telecommunication networks, Lapo recharge and tower land owners don’t stop their work, we will take strict action against them. They have only one day to wind up their work,” warned the group’s field operation spokesman Gazi Abu Sariq in a statement released by a local news agency. He alleged that senior jihadist commanders in Kashmir had been killed or arrested with the help of “telecommunications”.

“After our writing to the telecommunication networks, the results are known to everyone. When Indian government asked them to terminate the SMS services as same benefited the Mujahideen, it took these telecommunication networks less than half-an-hour to terminate the services. Today, when for the sake of Islam we ask these telecommunication networks to suspend their operations, why do they respond with reluctance? Why have they not stopped their services till now? Even at present, from everywhere there are signals of towers and recharge lapo shops are doing their business. Land owners also are not dismantling their towers. Showroom people are also in the showrooms and our eyes are on everyone,” the outfit spokesman said in his statement.

He advised the chiefs of the militant organisations to “concentrate on ground situation because Allah has mentioned that it is His land and here only His law shall prevail.” “Only those who are in the battlefield know what hardships they do face. A Mujahid in the battlefield knows what he has to remain cautious about and, thanks to Almighty, we have better knowledge about Quran and Sunnah”, he added.

In a significant development, the statement asked Kashmir’s Hurriyat leaders to take oath on Quran to get united. “We want to tell you (Hurriyat) leaders that, from now on, do not participate in the funeral procession of any martyr and never do politics by lecturing on these occasions. Stop playing politics over the blood of martyrs. We will not accept it. It will be better for Hurriyat to mind its own business and avoid interference in our matters. If Hurriyat does its duty with honesty, it will be better.

Reports said that most of the network towers and almost all the services recharge outlets have been closed down in Sopore-Baramulla-Pattan zone. Army, Police and other security agencies have approached the recharge vendors and the tower operators to continue their business without fear. However, their persuasion has field to yield any positive result as the terror group has continued attacks concurrent to its threats.

Today’s reports said that threats were communicated by phone to a large number of the people associated with mobile telephony in other North Kashmir towns like Kupwara, Drugmulla and Sogam. After the Friday prayers, a threatening letter to the vendors appeared at a shop in Drugmulla, 5 Km short of Kupwara and close to Army’s Sector Headquarters, asking the retailers to immediately shut their business and dismantle the towers.

“Now everybody has shut the recharge business, though all the towers are still functional in Kupwara district. But if, God forbid, any fatal casualty happens here, people will shut down all the signal towers excluding the ones installed at the residences of retired Police officers and other security zones”, said a resident of Drugmulla.

Formidable guerrilla outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Hizbul Mujahideen have publicly disassociated with the attacks and threats to the mobile phone network and services operators. Senior separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani has unequivocally condemned these attacks as “acts of terrorism” and by insinuation attributed the same to the “counter-terrorists” which the Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had suggested to raise last week. Geelani has asked Pakistan-based United Jihad Council chief Syed Salahuddin to hold a detailed investigation into the unknown outfit’s threats and attacks on the mobile operators.

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