A group of miscreants who had came up with fake posters of a militant outfit against a group of person in Anantnag’s Seer Hamdan area were finally identified by police
On intervning Night of November 30 & 1stDecember, people in Seer Hamdan area of Anantnag district woke up to find posters of “Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit” pasted at different places, warning a group of eight local people to give up their anti-movement activities. People were shocked when they found the names of the persons listed in the posters. “All the eight people are respectable citizens and have always come volunteered themselves for any kind of societal activity,” said a local resident. “There was an open threat to all these persons mentioned in the list. But what shocked the people was the foul language used to write the posters.” As the news about the posters spread in the area it created panic among the locals. But soon people began to question the veracity of the posters given the credible record of the persons whose names had been mentioned in the posters. That the posters had come up at various places across Seer Hamdan created panic among the residents who grew angry. Soon the discussion followed about the veracity of the posters. The doubts of local residents came true when it got revealed that the posters were fake and had been pasted by a group of miscreants who had a track record of indulging in anti-social activities over the years.
“The entire area was dumbstruck to find the names mentioned in the posters. Everybody would whisper about the credibility of the posters and but nobody was ready to come forward and speak for the two days after the posters appeared in the area,” said another local resident. “In the heart of our hearts everybody knew that there is something wrong somewhere. But it was the matter of who will bell the cat first,” said the villager. Amid the prevailing fear in the area which continued for some days, sources said the situation took a new twist when some persons uploaded the pictures of the posters on the social networking site Facebook. “Much to the relief for entire area police station Mattan took cognizance of the posters and filed a case (FIR No 93/2016) and started investigation to know the veracity of these posters,” said the sources. Soon the investigation found that the posters didn’t belong to the militant outfit but were fake. “Two youth were identified for uploading the posters on the Facebook. A manhunt was launched and finally they were arrested,” said the sources. Simultaneously, the sources said Jammu and Kashmir police started a parallel investigation to identify the miscreants who were behind making these fake posters.
“The investigation concluded that three local youth were involved in making of these posters. But all of them are absconding and are believed to have fled out of the state, fearing their arrest for putting lives of respectable citizens in danger,” said the sources. A group of locals told Kashmir Leader that when the truth behind the crime came to the fore finally, people of Seer Hamdan and adjoin area heaved a sigh of relief. “Had the posters came up a few months ago when the emotion were running high in the midst of the summer uprising not only would have the listed persons bore the brunt but their families too could have been victimized and their property damaged,” said an elderly man. He demanded that the investigating agencies should go deep into the case not only to nab the miscreants but find the real culprits involved in such heinous acts. “By doing so they are simply putting lives of people in danger. This shall be unacceptable and as a society we should collective condemn it.” Also, more than 10 days later the Hizb came up with the posters in the area warning the miscreants of any misadventure in future and cautioning people to remain aware of such elements in future. The Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag Zubair Ahmad Khan confirmed about the arrest of two miscreants who had uploaded the posters on the social networking site, adding the police has registered two FIRs in the case. “The miscreants who made the posters and later pasted them have also b een i dentified & T hose w ho post these posters on social media facebook have arrested included Asif Khan son of Abdul Hameed Khan of Seer and Asif Ganai son of Gul Muhammad Gania of Seer,is absconding” said the SSP.
