Facebook page of Kashmiri paper hacked by ISIS sympathisers

Srinagar: As pro-azadi protests and stone-pelting incidents go on unabated in Kashmir Valley, a cyber war is also underway.

Facebook blocked some more pages of its users including that of key separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani or deleted posts, photographs and videos placed on these citing ‘community standards’.

Also, the Facebook page of leading Srinagar English newspaper Rising Kashmir (RK) was hacked by a group which calls itself ‘Cyber Caliphate-black flags are coming’. Given the nature of posts, photographs and videos it posted on the page in quick succession, the hackers’ group owes allegiance to Daesh or ISIS.

It also placed ‘Daulat -e-Islamia-Iraq-o-Sham’s’ anthem and other ‘revolutionary’ and ‘rebellious’ songs on Rising Kashmir's hacked Facebook page to encourage ‘mujahedin’ or ‘holy fighters’ in Kashmir, promising them ‘dawn of freedom is about to break.'

Read: Facebook blocks Kashmiri separatist Geelani's posts, photographs

The newspaper's Twitter account was also hacked as it was interlinked with its Facebook page. “Muslims of Kashmir: Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you”, said a tweet on it from the hackers. Another tweet said, “This is a warning to all the prestitutes of Kashmir, who have sold their conscience and for Indian salaries have...” A post warns J&K police “For the eunuchs of J&K Police, we know this is going to be a long war, a day will come when we will use kitchen knives, cars, buses against you and you would not even know what hit you”.

Syed Shujaat Bukhari, the editor of the daily, said, "We're trying to recover the page."

The matter was resolved when the Rising Kashmir editor announced late at night that, "We have solved the issue concerning the hacking of official Facebook page of Rising Kashmir. All the undesired posts/pictures have been deleted and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our readers and followers. Our Twitter handle was also affected for some time. Thanks to all the followers and readers who showed their serious concern over this attempt. You are our real strength".

Read: Barring Anantnag, curfew lifted from all parts of Kashmir

Earlier the online social networking site Facebook deleted the page of Geelani who said it (deletion) has taken place because he shared an image of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander killed by security forces on July 8 and whose social media campaign had an outreach among a section of Kashmiri Muslim youth.

Taking to Twitter, the octogenarian separatist leader said, "Our FB page has been deleted by Facebook for sharing the image of Burhan Wani. It didn't meet their community standards."

When one visits his Facebook page -- facebook.com/syedaligeelani -- the message that appears is as follows: "Sorry, this page isn't available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed."

On Monday, a Pakistan-based ‘welfare society’ photoshopped Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and several other Indian celebrities with pellet and bullet wounds to powerfully highlight the killing and maiming of protesters by security forces while containing an 18-day-old unrest in Kashmir Valley.

The others whose morphed photographs were placed on the Facebook and Twitter by ‘Never Forget Pakistan’ and soon went viral on these social networking sites are Bollywood celebrities Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Alia Bhat, Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan, cricketer Virat Kohli and Internet entrepreneur and CEO of Facebook Mark Elliot Zuckerberg.