NIL

Kashmir messages: Army asks personnel to get off WhatsApp

by IBNS 11 Dec 2014, 08:22 am

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IBNS) After a series of misleading and anonymous WhatsApp messages which are purportedly attributed to serving officials of defence in the wake of Uri encounter in Kashmir and Modi's visit to the state for poll campaign, the Army has asked its personnel to quit the cross-platform mobile messaging app.

Army felt the messages are part of a psychological warfare by the enemies of India.

The messages on WhatsApp  went viral in the Army circle after the Jammu and Kashmir speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Srinagar. The messages were such that it appeared that there is a discontent in Army over the speech of Modi in Srinagar and that they were written by serving officers. 

The Army in view of the disturbing messages asked its personnel to get off WhatsApp. 

One message on Modi says: "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 Army told media in statements that "all the messages are part of a malafide operation." It said "none of the messages have been written by serving officers of the Indian Army. Army Headquarters is monitoring social media 24/7." 

Army said even the sequence of events mentioned about the Uri encounter and the deaths of its brave personnel were not in right order. 

Northern Corps Commander Lt Gen G S Hooda said: "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."
 
 Jammu and Kashmir witnessed four coordinated terror strikes since last Friday in less than 12 hours, killing about 21 people including army personnel, cops and civilians.

Uri, Srinagar, Tral and Shopian, where the attacks were carried out, are undergoing polls in the third and fourth phase of ongoing Assembly elections in the state.