JAMMU/SRINAGAR:
Close on the heels of beheading four women in Rajouri district and the
burning of a cigarette shop, militant outfits have directed Muslims to
follow a set of guidelines like the Taliban had done in
Afghanistan.
While in Rajouri the Lashker-e-Jabbar has
directed women to wear burqas and men to wear caps and grow beards in
keeping with Islamic traditions, another group Hai-e-Allal Fallah
threatened to attack shopkeepers who sell liquor or tobacco in
Kashmir.
This group took responsibility for setting
on fire the cigarette shop on Monday in Srinagar. The shopkeeper, Mohammad
Shafi Teli was injured in the incident.
In a faxed statement to the local news
agency, News and Feature Alliance, group spokesman Mohammed bin Qasim
said: "Shopkeepers selling cigarettes, tobacco, liquor and other narcotic
items should completely close down their businesses at once."
"Any shopkeeper or wholesale dealer found
violating this diktat will end up like Mohammed Shafi Teli," the statement
said.
Lashker-e-Jabbar has asked Muslim women to
desist from going to schools and colleges, have a male escort while going
out of the house and sit separately from men in buses, police sources said
here on Tuesday.
A circular put up by the group in the
Degree College in Rajouri warned people against defying their
diktats.
Like the Lashker-e-Jabbar, Hai-e-Allal
Fallah is also not among known groups operating in Kashmir. Qasim said his
group was not affiliated with any other militant outfit or security
agency.
"Our aim is to cleanse the society of
evils like cigarette smoking, drinking and use of narcotics," he said.
Earlier, in 1990, the Allah Tigers
militant group closed down cinemas, liquor shops and beauty parlours in
Kashmir. Srinagar now has two cinema halls and two licensed liquor shops,
and they all operate under tight security.
Kashmiri people have ignored such diktats
in the past and there is lot of public resentment against such circulars.
Moreover, major militant groups operating Jammu and Kashmir have desisted
from issuing such
diktats.
