War hysteria to propaganda overdrive, Pakistan is desperate to internationalise Kashmir issue

New Delhi, Aug 30: Pakistan's propaganda machinery is on overdrive mode. Right from the Prime Minister of the country to those on the social, each one is threatening the prospect of war and even posting fake material to suggest that atrocities are peaking in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.

The security forces have been assessing the situation on a daily basis and based on the recommendations, the curbs are being lifted in a phased manner. However those part of the security mechanism feel it is not advisable to lift curbs on the internet as yet.

Pakistan is waiting for the curbs to be lifted on the internet so that it can flood the social media with propaganda material in a bid to create trouble in the Valley.

Even the tweets being put out by former officers of the Pakistan Army clearly signal that they are trying to foment trouble not just in Kashmir, but in other insurgency hit states as well.

For instance, Brig Masud Ahmad said that the insurgency started in 1970 as a result of economic exploitation by Delhi. He also speaks about the Mizoram Independence movement and says India launched airstrikes to neutralise the movement. He goes on with a series of tweets explaining these issues.

Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials say that with restrictions in place, terrorists may find it difficult to infiltrate into the Valley or even strike there. However, Intelligence agencies are not ruling out the possibility of trouble in other parts of the country.

Many protests are being organised in different parts of the country and there is a good chance that these persons may provoke and create violence. An example of the same was the incident that was witnessed at the JNU, when a protest condemning the death sentence awarded to Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru was held.

Meanwhile, source in the Ministry of Home Affairs tell OneIndia that while the restrictions would continue to ease out, there is no call as yet on the restoration of internet services in Kashmir. We continue to assess the situation both in Kashmir as well in Pakistan and only once we are sure we will go ahead with the lifting of restrictions on the internet.

Security officials say that as per their analysis, it may take at least a month to 45 days before restrictions are completely lifted in the Valley.

We are assessing the situation on a daily basis and the restrictions are being eased out in a phased manner. Our current assessment shows that it may be October or November by the time the restrictions are completely eased, a highly placed source informed.

The government is keeping a close watch on the situation. By October 31, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh would become two Union Territories. The Intelligence Bureau says that there could be fresh incidents of violence in the run up to October 31. The government does not want any knee jerk reaction and will take all measures to ensure that peace and normalcy returns to the Valley, the source also added.

In another development, a night training launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi was carried out by Pakistan, early Thursday amidst rising tensions with India.

Following this, Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces said that the exercise was successful. He even posted a 30 second video clip of the missile launch on Twitter.

The timing of the launch is suspect and analysts say that it was another exercise aimed internationalising the Kashmir issue. It is a two-pronged strategy by Pakistan to internationalise the issue both through diplomatic and military channels.

Pakistan is clearly trying to raise the war spectre and telling the international community to intervene, failing which there could be a full blown nuclear war.

In Pakistan there were several statements issued in the past couple of weeks after the Indian government decided to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.