'Bedroom Jihadis' become a nuisance for security agencies in J&K
bedroom jihadis
" -- people who manipulate
social media
from the safety of their homes to spread misinformation and incite
communal discord
, officials said.
This kind of enemy, far removed from the traditional armed terrorists, is at the heart of a sophisticated cross-border effort to destabilise the region, the officials said.
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass Batch-1
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 2
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 3
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Artificial Intelligence
AI For Business Professionals
By Vaibhav Sisinity
View Program
Finance
Value and Valuation Masterclass - Batch 4
By CA Himanshu Jain
View Program
Artificial Intelligence
AI For Business Professionals Batch 2
By Ansh Mehra
View Program
An in-depth investigation has uncovered a network of social media handles, believed to be controlled by terror groups and their sympathisers in Pakistan, that have been actively intruding into local digital spaces, disseminating inflammatory content and propaganda with the clear objective of creating sectarian clashes and unrest in the Kashmir valley.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Top 15 Most Beautiful Women in the World
Topgentlemen.com
"After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones to wage war from just about anywhere, spreading rumours and influencing youths," an official in the know of the developments said.
The trend emerged in 2017 but ended after an effective crackdown with curbs on the Internet post abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Live Events
After the successful completion of assembly elections last year, the "bedroom jihadis" have surfaced again, possibly with an aim to destablise the elected government and create a sense of unrest, the officials said.
Security agencies have also uncovered a sophisticated and concerted effort by terror groups and their sympathisers operating from across the border to use social media platforms to incite sectarian clashes and destabilise the region.
The investigation, which has been underway for several weeks, involved scrutinising thousands of social media posts, comments and private messages and its analysis provided compelling evidence of a direct link between these malicious online activities and handlers located in Pakistan.
During Muharram days observed by the Shia community recently, there was tension between the two sects of the Muslim community over a post but effective handling by
Srinagar police
doused the fire before it could spread, the officials said.
Former Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Kuldeep Khoda says the successful identification and disruption of this cross-border social media plot highlight the evolving nature of threats to security in Jammu and Kashmir.
"While traditional terror activities remain a concern, the digital battlefield is increasingly becoming a front where external forces seek to destabilise the region by exploiting local tensions, which should be nipped in the bud," he feels.
In the recent past, the virtual nature of this conflict was seen in a case where the personal details of
Kashmiri Pandit migrants
appointed under the Prime Minister's rehabilitation scheme were leaked on various social media platforms.
The malicious act, intended to create fear within the minority community, was swiftly countered by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and their investigation led to the arrest of a local youth who had been directed from across the border to carry out the act.
Officials coined the term "bedroom jihadis" to describe these people who operate in a virtual battleground where a "bloody war is fought, but with words".
However, this has a significant impact on young minds and the ease with which a rumour can spread poses a significant challenge, the officials said and explained, "Anyone, while sitting on his bed or sofa, can plant a fake news in one of the thousand chat groups and the entire Union Territory can plunge into communal divide."
Many X (formerly Twitter) users have created fake accounts to spread fake narratives being peddled from across the border. "It is like finding a needle in a haystack, but nevertheless effective policing has led to blocking or nabbing such elements," another official said.
The reach of these chat groups and social media posts extends beyond Jammu and Kashmir, with participation from youngsters in the national capital, other parts of India, and abroad.
The law enforcement authorities have made preventive detentions of several people suspected of being directly involved in the online campaign or acting as local conduits for cross-border handlers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
23 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Political Line newsletter: Cow Economy, and Diplomacy
Culture influences market and diplomacy. But how much is too much on this count? A slice of the stalemate in trade talks between India and the U.S. is related to the U.S. demand for opening up India's farm sector. The U.S. wants to export more of its dairy and poultry products to India. India resists this demand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he would make personal sacrifices, if required, to ensure that farmers are protected. The proportion of population dependent on agriculture reveals one of the most striking differences between India and the United States, highlighting their vastly different economic structures and development stages. India has nearly half of its workforce engaged in agriculture, while the United States has only less than two percent directly employed in farming — representing a 32-fold difference in agricultural employment dependency. In India's case, agriculture contributes roughly 18 percent of GDP but nearly half of the population is dependent on it. Farmers are a powerful political constituency in both India and the United States. Food is also a question of national security. Post-Covid fears related to self-sufficiency in critical areas have further strengthened the case for national food markets insulated from global disruptions. India's resistance to allowing American farm produce in its market rests on three reasons. The first, as mentioned above, is that too many people are dependent on agriculture, and opening up the sector to American products could render them vulnerable. The second is national security. The third concerns apparently cultural reasons — American cows may be fed meat products such as chicken waste, and this is unacceptable to India. Milk and other products from a cow whose food chain is not clearly plant-based do not meet Indian standards. Whether such determination is consistently applied across all milk produced within India is beside the point. Cultural reasons are relevant to market decisions in all societies. For instance, some Muslim countries or shops may not sell pork; among the GCC countries, pork is available in the UAE and Bahrain, while in others it is not. In large parts of India now, beef is legally banned; in many parts, such as southern India, West Bengal, and the northeastern states, it is widely consumed by all social groups including Hindus. Cultural barriers to global trade are not new in India. Crossing the seas was once taboo — Gandhi had to do penance to be readmitted to his Modh Vaniya caste, which had ostracised him for doing so. Of the three issues at play in trade in agriculture, perhaps the easiest to change is the competency of the sector. But the cultural politics around the cow and the requirements of the agriculture sector often come into conflict. At least 20 out of 28 states have some form of laws to protect cows, which effectively translates into restrictions on the trade and transportation of cattle, including buffaloes. In the last decade or so, many states have enforced these laws aggressively, and vigilantes targeting even legal cattle trade often go scot-free. Simultaneously, a whole network of rent-seeking has emerged in the guise of cow protection, as the state spends massive amounts to shelter unproductive cows that farmers do not want to keep. It is not the case that meat production has ended; India's export of buffalo meat has been growing in the last three years at around four percent annually. What has happened is that cattle and leather trade have been pushed into a grey zone of legality, inflicting costs and losses for all involved and creating new rent-seeking opportunities. You can read about a sample of such restrictions here. Farmers are paying a huge price for this — on the one hand, the difficulty in disposing unproductive cattle, and on the other, the problem of free-roaming cattle destroying their crops. Cow protection in India was linked historically to farming practices of an earlier era. Those factors have changed due to technology and other developments. Yet, productivity in India's agriculture sector remains entangled in the religious association many people have with cows. The cow has long functioned as a symbol in Hindu-Muslim rivalry in the subcontinent. Hindu leaders such as Dayananda Saraswati made cow protection a tool for popular consolidation antagonistic to Muslims in the 19th century. Some Muslim leaders, such as Pir Abu Bakr in Bengal in the early 20th century, argued that cow sacrifice was an essential practice of Islam. Whether cow sacrifice is indeed an essential practice of Islam has been the subject of several litigations in independent India as well. While India grapples with global uncertainties created by political and technological upheavals, it might also make sense to review its priorities at home. The Fear of the Future People Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now raised the spectre of a demographic threat to India in his Independence Day speech. He said there was a conspiracy to change the demographic profile of India. You can read The Hindu editorial on this speech here. Does demographic composition determine the character of a nation? Leaving that question for a future discussion, here are some quick adjacent thoughts. Variations in population growth across communities and geographies pose challenges for governance and national identity. It is one thing to say that everyone is an individual citizen regardless of social location, faith, or ethnicity. But India's governance structure acknowledges the principle of group identities while providing special protections for religious and linguistic minorities, Dalits, backward classes, tribes, etc. Collective identities are not anathema to India's constitutional scheme; in fact, they are central to it. Political contestations have historically been framed in India around the numerical strength of communities. That history warrants discussion separately, but to cite a well known example, the 15% and 7.5% reservations for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, respectively, were based on their proportion in the population. As the proportion of their population changes, so will their representation. This will be among the issues in the next delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in India. Currently, there are two distinct divergences in population growth in India. First, the north-central regions have higher birth rates than peninsular and western India. Second, Muslims have a higher birth rate than Hindus. Among Hindus, upper castes have lower birth rates compared to other groups. While the BJP and its supporters try to highlight the Hindu-Muslim divergence in population growth, many others, particularly parties in the South, are more worried about the regional divergence in population growth. It is this regional divergence that makes the next delimitation an unsettling prospect for many regions. Population management has to be a secular task, and all communities should participate in it. While the BJP constantly talks up an Islamic demographic threat, there are Muslim actors who acknowledge and even amplify it. Last year, a Muslim Minister in West Bengal said Muslim population was growing fast and would soon become a majority. The ruling Trinamool Congress distanced itself from the statement. Federalism Tract: Notes on Diversity This article by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin discusses how India is home to many nationalities and emphasizes the importance of linguistic diversity as a defining feature of India. It argues that in a true federal system, states should not have to protest, litigate, or plead for their rightful share of revenues. Governors are taking their role as chancellors of State universities too seriously, which is roiling the higher education sector. Read our editorial on the ongoing conflicts between Governors and State governments over university governance here. The drive against unauthorised immigrants from Bangladesh is creating rifts within India, as any Bengali-speaking individual can end up as a target of police action.
Time of India
27 minutes ago
- Time of India
ECB's rebel voice bows out with plea for transparency
The European Central Bank 's most rebellious rate-setter has one last suggestion before he departs this month: more transparency on policy decisions. Arch hawk Robert Holzmann , who's been comfortable delivering a lone 'no' vote on occasions during the ECB 's easing push, wants outsiders to glean more of an understanding of officials' thinking as they calibrate borrowing costs. He'd like to see a version of the Federal Reserve's dot plot, under which policymakers anonymously provide their projections for rates. Alternatively, views diverging from the narrative presented by President Christine Lagarde could be summarized and released. "When we start out, unanimity is a strong signal," Holzmann said in an interview before he cedes control of Austrian's central bank to former Economy Minister Martin Kocher. "But if the situation is not as clear in what direction you need to move because there are arguments in all directions, then I think deviations have information for the market." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The #1 Mistake Tinnitus Sufferers Make Every Night (I Did It for Years) Derila Ergo Undo The parting advice caps a six-year stint for Holzmann at the ECB, where the 76-year-old was among the staunchest supporters of the unprecedented ramp-up in rates unleashed to tame the euro zone's sharpest-ever spike in prices. With inflation returning toward the 2% target, Holzmann didn't back a June reduction that brought borrowing costs to the same level. He's also questioned other moves during the cutting campaign. Live Events But while Lagarde singled him out at a press conference this year for failing to fall in line with the rest of the 26-member Governing Council, Holzmann says he's never had any conflict with the ECB chief and speaks highly of her work. His plea to boost transparency came at a farewell dinner last month in Frankfurt, when asked by Lagarde for his thoughts on how the ECB could operate more effectively. The idea will probably remain just that, however, as a yearlong strategy review wrapped up only recently.
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
India-US trade deal: US team may cancel August visit, says report; 50% Trump tariffs to take effect from August 27
Postponing or rescheduling the meeting is important because the US has imposed a significant 50% on Indian products. (AI image) India-US trade deal: As India looks at the possibility of a 50% tariff on its exports to the US effective August 27, the sixth round of trade deal talks between the two countries may be postponed. An official told PTI that a US team, initially set to visit India from August 25 for the next round of negotiations on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, is expected to postpone the meeting. Up to now, five rounds of discussions have been completed for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), and the US team was supposed to come to India for the sixth round. The negotiations were planned for August 25-29. "This visit is likely to be rescheduled," the official said. Also Read | 'Russia lost an oil client, which is India': What Donald Trump said before meet with Putin; 'secondary sanctions would be devastating…' India talks tough on important sectors Postponing or rescheduling the meeting is important because the US has imposed a significant 50% on Indian products. The US is seeking increased market access in sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy, which India cannot agree to as it would impact the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers. India has made it clear that it will not compromise the interests of its farmers and cattle rearers. The US and India have announced their intention to finalize the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dementia Has Been Linked To a Common Habit. Do You Do It? Memory Health Click Here Undo Both countries aim to more than double their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, up from the current $191 billion. Also Read | Trump sees a 'dead economy' - but US-based S&P Global upgrades India's credit rating - here's why A 25% tariff on Indian goods entering the US has been in place since August 7. An additional 25% tariff, imposed as a penalty for India's purchase of crude oil and military equipment from Russia, will take effect on August 27. Between April and July, India's exports to the US grew by 21.64 percent, reaching $33.53 billion, while imports increased by 12.33 percent to $17.41 billion, as reported by the commerce ministry. The US was India's largest trading partner during the April-July period of 2025-26, with bilateral trade amounting to $12.56 billion. Since April this year, India's exports to the US have been showing positive growth. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays , public holidays , current gold rate and silver price .
