Police move court to block Facebook pages of young militants

Police today moved a local court seeking directions for blocking the pages on 'Facebook' which carried pictures of 11 young Kashmiri militants donning army fatigues and holding firearms.
"We have initiated legal action and approached court for orders to block it," Inspector General (Kashmir) S J M Gilani said here.
Once an order is received, the Jammu and Kashmir police will ask the social networking site to block the pages carrying pictures of the Hizbul Mujahideen militants which included Burhan Wani, who has become a poster-boy for the terror outfit.
While the pages have been taken off, the Police was eager to block the page from the server itself.

The pictures, according to official sources, were clicked in orchards of Shopian or Pulwama in South Kashmir.
The central security agencies have sought details from the social networking site about the Internet Protocol addresses from where the photos were uplinked and then deleted, the sources said.

Preliminary enquiry show that the IP seems to be masked and it was difficult to know the exact location from where it had been uploaded, the sources said.
Those in the photograph include ex-constable of Jammu and Kashmir Police Naseer, who ran away with two AK-47 rifles while on guard duty with Altaf Bukhari, a Minister in the Mufti Sayeed-headed PDP-BJP government, and Wani, a resident of Tral, who has emerged as the young face of Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley.

Innumerable images of Burhan and posts extolling him were uploaded on social networking sites like Facebook which the security agencies have got removed but his popularity has not diminished.
Young militant leaders like Burhan, with an appeal among the youth of the region, are helping swell the militant ranks, a development, security agencies feel, carry grim portents for the Valley.
It is however, still rare for militants to upload their photograps on social networking sites lest it should facilitate swift action against them by the law enforcement agencies.