Militants asked to probe telecom sector attacks

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 27

Separatist leaders Mohammad Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Shah Geelani today urged militants to probe the recent attacks on the telecom sector which had forced shutdown of services in several north Kashmir towns.

Malik told reporters here that militants groups headed by Syed Salahuddin, chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen and chairman of the United Jihad Council, had dissociated themselves from the attacks on the telecom sector in Sopore.

Malik asked Salahuddin to form a committee to probe the attacks. “There are two guns in Kashmir and both have condemned it. Without wasting time, Salahuddin should form a committee to investigate the attacks,” said Malik, chairman of the JKLF.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference faction chief Geelani condemned the attacks in Sopore, in which two persons associated with telecom companies had been killed by suspected militants earlier this week. Geelani termed the attacks in Sopore as “terrorism” and defended telecommunications as a “lifeline”.

“In today’s fast life, its absence will create problems and complications,” said Geelani in a statement. He criticised the gunmen who threatened and attacked the telecom companies. Geelani asked the militant groups to investigate these attacks.

“The armed groups should investigate their ranks, probe what is happening and why and see if there are any black sheep harming the movement,” he said.

The attacks by unidentified gunmen suspected to be militants targeting telecom companies, in which two people died this week, had led to suspension of mobile phone services in several north Kashmir towns, including Sopore, where mobile phone outlets had been shut.

Several telecom companies had temporarily halted their services in adjoining towns of Baramulla, Handwara, Bandipora and Palhalan. Sources in the telecom industry said they had been asked by head offices to lie low and remove advertisements from north Kashmir towns.

Police sources said the recent statements issued by militant groups like the United Jihad Council and the Lashkar-e-Toiba in which they dissociated from the attacks hinted at the existence of a new group or an old unit gone rogue.

“There is a possibility that these militants are not linked to any existing group or it is an old module which is no longer following the command chain,” said a police officer who has years of experience in counter-insurgency operations.

Police investigators probing the attacks said local militants affiliated with the Hizbul Mujahideen had been identified as the shooters.