Pakistan in a build up to July 8, the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani has unleashed a video war.

It has released several high definition videos hailing Wani at the same time castigating the Indian Army and security forces in the Valley.

The online propaganda has strong communal overtone as it shows a majoritarian Hindu government oppressing the Muslim minority. Recently released songs accessed by India Today shows the supposed defence minister donning a saffron garb giving orders to defence personnel to eliminate Burhan Wani.

The minister is shown saying that it should not be a problem as "we killed a million kashmiris by now." An actor is shown depicting Burhan who is being humiliated and tortured by the Indian Army.

The video also shows a news channel being used a propaganda tool by the Indian government. With forces unleashing their wrath on civilians, several bodies are seen piled up.

"Video's and photographs are a regular propaganda tool now." Several sites showed top laskhar commander of South Kashmir Bashir Lashkar's face disfigured after his recent killing.

A top officer said that it was a propaganda, no such action was taken by the force and the body was handed over."

The intelligence agencies and security forces, however, are not surprised by the barrage of the videos.

COUNTER STRATEGY

"This is an anticipated move. We have agencies like the Computer Emergency Response team (Cert-in) to remove such material. However, once released into the system, the videos are difficult to erase or corrupt. The other strategy is to block such sites which release videos. However, the same are known to come up with different names and proxy locations and servers.Effectively officer in the know how say they counter video with information and counter videos," a senior officer told India Today.

Ironically, Burhan Wani once a poster boy of HM, was himself social media phenomenon, featuring in several videos and photos posing with weapons and taunting security forces. These were were circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp in an attempt to recruit young Kashmiri men.

Several appeals have gone to social media users to change their display picture to that of Burhan Wani in his memory. Taken in by the campaign several young men have taken up to social media jihad calling themselves social media warriors.

Sources in the know how say there is an on going campaign to mobilise people especially youth in South Kashmir and in some locations in North Kashmir.

The state police has already said that it will not allow any rally that aims at paying tributes to the slain militant commander.

Kashmir Range Inspector General of Police, Muneer Ahmad Khan, said that police will leave no stone unturned to ensure that law and order is maintained from July 7 onwards.

SOCIAL MEDIA AN EFFECTIVE TOOL

"I anticipate the situation will become worse, the social media is being used as a tool to effectively to send the message. The forces in the state should be at all time high vigil," former ADG BSF Sanjiv Sood told India Today.

"This should not come as a surprise. The move has been anticipated and should be nipped in the bud. This kind of propaganda can yield little result," said former Major General PK Saighal. While Saighal sounds optimistic, many within the Valley are keeping their fingers crossed.

"Whether to ban the internet or not, is the state police and government's decision. But all I can say is that there have been series of meeting in dealing with the situation at hand," said MHA spokesperson Ashok Prasad.

The United Jihad Council (UJC) led by Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has already announced a week-long protest from July 7 to July 13 to commemorate Burhan's martyrdom anniversary.This coincides with strike calendar given by the separatists.

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