Srinagar: Whether normalcy has been returned in Jammu Kashmir ever since the Abrogation of Article 370 is a question that is only partly answered.
In a new development, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have revealed that the authorities including the cops are monitoring social media posts, particularly on microblogging site Twitter regarding the situation in the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 in August, News18 reports.
The Police sent a press release to journalists along with a list of tweets posted on Kashmir’s situation, particularly human rights violations in the region which are all compiled in a file.
The Twitter handles include those of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, its Foreign Minister Shah Hussain Qureshi, student activist Shehla Rashid, three journalists (two of them from Kashmir and another from Pakistan), and a few international news organisations from Turkey, Germany and Pakistan.
The Police also sent a rebuttal following the email saying the attached file had been forwarded “inadvertently”, requesting journalists to “ignore” it.
The internet services in the region have not been returned since August 5 while other restrictions imposed across the Valley and life is yet to return to normalcy.
Though some normalcy was reported earlier this week, a shutdown was again witnessed on Thursday and Friday.
Police officers who spoke to News18 on condition of social media is being monitored carefully after August 5.
“We are very much concerned about what is happening in the virtual world,” said a police officer. “We monitor social media, particularly Twitter, on a regular basis and the tweets with posts critical of the state are collected.”
According to reports, over 41 people have been killed in J&K since August 5 – 18 of them are militants, five are local civilians, and 12 non-locals killed by suspected militants while four civilians have also been killed by security forces during protests, said the officials.
Reports also show that around 50 shops across the Valley were set on fire or damaged by “mischievous elements” during the period.