Alarmed Over Fake Torture Videos Shot In PoK, Home Ministry May Extend Internet Blockade In J-K

Internet services in Jammu and Kashmir are unlikely to be restored anytime soon, Home Ministry sources told News Nation on Friday. The development comes in wake of fake torture videos that have gone viral. Sources said that Pakistan has launched a ‘bizarre’ campaign against India. ‘Pakistan's agenda to create trouble in India through social media has been detected when it was found that Pakistani officers were shooting videos in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) where it was shown security forces wearing uniforms of Indian security forces committing atrocities against people,’ sources said. Such viral videos have even reached faraway Northeast. These videos are apparently being used to instigate Naga insurgents against the Government of India, sources said.

News Nation had reported on Thursday how a TV show clips were being used to claim that a Kashmiri journalist was allegedly beaten up by the Indian Army. A series of images were used and clubbed together and was shared on Twitter by a username ‘@arbazkhan158’. On investigation, it was quite evident that it was screenshots from a Hindi TV show. In the tweet, he wrote, “Last night Indian Army arrested Kashmiri journalist Fahad Bhat from his home. Now they are torturing him. World has time for Amazon forests but not for Kashmiri people. Why?’’ It got retweeted more than 4000 times and garnered around 4500 likes. However, the pictures shared by the user was from a Hindi TV show titled ‘Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi’ where the lead of the show Ranveer is getting beaten up by the police.

Meanwhile, Central ministers will visit Jammu and Kashmir one by one to assess the situation, look into implementation of development programmes and try to interact with people in the coming days, a senior government functionary said on Thursday. On the release of political leaders, the functionary said the administration is taking step-by-step decisions.

"First they allowed movement of people on roads, then landline phones were restored and then mobile phones were restored in some areas. Similarly, the leaders will also be released at a convenient time," he said.  While two central ministers have so far visited Ladakh -- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday and Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda last week, none has gone to the Kashmir Valley since August 5 when the government announced the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Intel detects Pak officers shooting videos in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
• Such viral videos have even reached faraway Northeast.
• PoK videos being used to instigate Naga insurgents against India.