Threat letters appear again in Kashmir

Threat letters purportedly written by militants have allegedly appeared in a village of south Kashmir threatening Panchayat representatives and asking them to resign.

Threat letters purportedly written by militants have allegedly appeared in a village of south Kashmir threatening Panchayat representatives and asking them to resign.

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Posters threatening people is nothing new in Kashmir and many such incidents for the past one year in south Kashmir have turned out to be a “mischief”. On the other hand, attacks on panches and sarpanches have been consistent in the Valley with five of them losing their lives to the bullets of unknown gunmen.

Reports said that posters with the name of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) signed by 'commander' Abdullah Mujahid, appeared in Aharipal village of south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. The posters asked village council members to resign from their elected posts or 'face consequences'. Written in Urdu, the warning asked locals to desist from working for Indian agencies, media reports said.

Police neither confirmed nor denied the incident. Superintendent of police in Pulwama, Amit Kumar, did not take calls from HT.

Though Panchayat representatives have been constantly demanding security cover after five of their colleagues were killed across valley in the past two years, but police have been dismissive of the possibility of threats by militants. Senior police officials maintain that if militants want to strike “they will do it and not issue posters”.