Posters are being circulated in the name of “Lashkar e Islam”, an outfit that no longer exists in the Kashmir and perhaps ended with the killing of its commander in the year 2017.
This is not the first time, however, that such posters have been circulated in the name of Lashkar e Islam. Earlier in August 2016, similar posters had appeared in the outfit’s name asking Kashmiri Pandits to leave the Kashmir valley. The Police officials had denied the authenticity of the posters calling it a ‘handiwork’ of miscreants.
On Wednesday, a Kashmiri Hindu was shot at in the Pombay area of Kulgam by unknown gunmen. Identified as Satesh Singh, a local Rajput Hindu, the 45-year-old was shifted to the hospital. However, he succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital leving behind a family of four including three young daughters.
On Thursday, hundreds of local Muslims from surrounding villages thronged Satesh’s house to express condolences with the bereaved family. The locals also participated and arranged for the last rites.
Immediately after the killing, an unsigned threatening, mistake-full letter addressed to Hindu families residing in Baramulla in Jammu Kashmir appeared over social media.
In this black and white poster released allegedly flaunting the flag and logo of Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) the militants have asked Kashmiri Hindus to be ready for death or leave the Kashmir valley immediately.
Pertinently, Lashkar e Islam has resurfaced several years after killing of its members in the year 2015.
Officials on condition of anonymity said that the threat does not seem to be real. “it looks like the work of some miscreants. The said organization’s existence is in itself very doubtful. It had vanished with the death of Quyoom Najar in 2017 in Uri,” he said.
According to the officials the posters seem to be the handiwork of the miscreants and Police is in the process of identifying the people behind it.
Other than on the two occasions, where the posters surfaced online the organization’s posters have appeared several times on Kashmir streets. The Kashmiriyat cross-checked the two posters and it is clear that the outfit did not use the logo and header as used in the posters circulated online. The logo used in the online posters is that of Jamat u Dawa- an outfit headed by Hafiz Saeed.
Lashkar e Islam also used an “a” in Laskh’a’r in the posters it claimed to have cicrulated in the year 2015, however on the social media posters ‘E’ has been used instead of an E in Lashk’e’r.
What is Lashkar e Islam?
Lashkar e Islam hogged the limelight in May 2015, when their posters appeared in apple rich township of Sopore and elsewhere asking the telcom operators to wind up business in Kashmir. Six civilians, mostly telecom operators, former militants and supporters of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani were killed by Lahkar e Islam in 2015. Abdul Quyoom Najar, a resident of Sopore was the head of the outfit Lashkar e Islam.
Najar was the most wanted militant till 2015, when he crossed over to Pakistan. Police say that Najar was involved in many killings across the state, including that of a village Sarpanchs and leaders of Hurriyat led by He was killed in the Uri sector of Baramulla in September 2017.
Officials say that Najar kept changing his appearance and the police has reports that suggest he used wigs and moved around meekly. Najar didn’t trust anyone and had even created fear among those who helped him, officials believed.
Pakistan banned the outfit and called it the handiwork of agencies. Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani and United Jihad Council headed by Syed Salahudin termed Lashkar e Islam as a handiwork of Indian agencies, to which Qayoom issued an open press release asking Hurriyat to verify its role in the killings of several militants.
Jammu Kashmir police had put a bounty of Rs one million on Qayoom Najar’s head.