Day after a top most police officer in Kashmir said the youth are waving Islamic State or ISIS flags ‘just for fun’, the police, while continuing its crackdown, booked a youth while detained another over the appearance of ISIS flags in the region.The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir range Abdul Gani Mir had reportedly said the youth who waved ISIS flags are doing it for fun and to get media coverage. He was also reported to have said that those flag waving youth don’t know what Islamic State is.Meanwhile, continuing its crackdown, police detained two more youths in downtown Srinagar, top sources said. The two have been identified as Yasir Maqbool Lone of Hawal and Muhammad Saleem of Fateh Kadal.Sources told GNS that police have recovered an Islamic State flag from the house of Yasir Maqbool. The youth has been booked under FIR number 92/2014 under 13 unlawful activities, a police official informed.
Sources said the police questioning Saleem vis-à-vis ISIS flags. Besides, they said, three other youths, who were detained over the stone-pelting, are also being questioned. The three are Owais Hazari, Mubashir Qadri and Absar Wani and the trio hail from Habba Kadal.
Owais and Mubashir were detained on 15 October while Absar was detained on 16 October. Mubashir Qadri, who hails from Bijbehara in Anantnag district, was currently residing at Habba Kadal.Besides, Javaid of Chattabal and Hashim of Ikhrajpora, Jawahar Nagar, who are also under detention, are being questioned.All the detained youth are being questioned by police’s Special Operation Group (SOG)
Security sources told GNS that the secret wings of police and other security agencies are continuing their investigations into the appearance of Islamic State flags in Kashmir parts including in Srinagar’ Old City during anti-India protests.
The continuous appearance of Islamic State flag in Kashmir has worried security agencies while as army had repeatedly said that surfacing of ISIS flag merits highest concern.The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as well as security agencies have so far said that ISIS has no presence in Kashmir. The Chief Minister few months ago revealed that a Kashmir youth based in Australia has reportedly joined Islamic State but added that none from Kashmir travelled to Syria or Iraq to join the group. He recently termed the youths holding ISIS flags ‘idiots’.Before devastating floods, the police in Srinagar had questioned several youths over surfacing of ISIS flags in Kashmir. The police had also questioned a cameraperson working with a Mumbai based news channel. (GNS)