Unsigned messages on WhatsApp strike Army; Men asked to get off the App

New Delhi, Dec 11: After a host of unsigned messages over critical defence matters on WhatsApp, the Indian Army has raised an alarm among its men and asked them to stop using the App. These messages sprung up on social media after the Uri encounter in Jammu and Kashmir and PM Modi's speech in Srinagar on Monday. The discontenment in the content was evident, especially with PM Modi's remarks on Monday when he is said to have politicised the Budgam shootings.

One such message said,"He proves that all he has is a political agenda and rightly so also as he needs the numbers in the houses of parliament. But the army is just a tool and that too a dispensable one."

The source cannot be traced as WhatsApp servers are in the United States. Army Officials said that this is a psychological warfare operation meant to spring disenchantment in the Army.

In fact, the Army said,"all the messages are part of a malafide operation....None of the messages have been written by serving officers of the Indian Army. Army Headquarters is monitoring social media 24/7."

Moreover, banking on the chronology of the events posted online, the Army believes that the messages are fabricated as the sequence of events are not correct.

Meanwhile, Army Commander General DS Hooda sent a message to his men, saying,"The print, electronic and social media are powerful tools which sway not only public opinion but also the sentiments of our own officers and men. Let us not fall prey to them."