SRINAGAR: Police Saturday detained two youth, including one from uptown Srinagar, involved in waving flags of Iraq and Syria based so called Islamic State group here after Friday prayers.
Giving details, a senior security official said that two masked youth appeared inside Jamia Masjid compound in Nowhatta with a black flag of ISIS after Friday prayers. The sleuths of security agencies in civvies, deployed there, photographed them with high quality cameras and also followed them.
After working hard, we managed to identify these masked youth and finally they are in our custody. It is a major breakthrough, the official, who is privy to the investigations, said.
The youth held by police have been identified as Javid Ahmad Lone, son of Abdul Rashid Lone, resident of Baghi Nund Sang Chattabal and Hashim Ahmad Mir, son of Farooq Ahmad Mir, resident of Ikhrajpora Jawahar Nagar.
Both the youth, sources said, have been handed over to polices Special Operation Group (SOG) for questioning. Three ISIS flags have also been recovered from Hashim Mir, the official said.
As reported earlier, hundreds of police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group (SOG) personal were deployed on Friday in and around Jamia Masjid, Nowhatta, Rajouri Kadal, Bhori Kadal and Gojwara for maintaining a strict vigil over suspected persons. The security personal were also deployed in civvies at various junctions of the Old City
Our investigations would continue and we will see whether these boys are just sympathizers of ISIS or beyond that, the official said, adding more arrests were expected in this regard.
The continuous appearance of ISIS flags in Kashmir has caused concern among security agencies.
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 ISIS but added that none from Kashmir travelled to Syria or Iraq to join the group. He recently termed the youths holding ISIS flags as idiots.
Before devastating floods, the police in Srinagar had questioned several youth over raising of ISIS flags. The police had also questioned a cameraperson working with a Mumbai based news channel in this regard. gns
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
