Burhan Wani, the most wanted regional commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, is using social media websites and the Internet to attract local Kashmiri youths towards militancy.

The Hizb commander has until now successfully recruited around 30 new young boys from south Kashmir towards anti-India activities being carried out by his outfit.

Burhan has been active in the Tral area in Pulwama district of south Kashmir – a favourite hideout for militants for years.

Son of a government school principal, Burhan is among the most dreaded militants of south Kashmir today. Some even call him the ‘face of terror’ in villages in south of Srinagar.

He carries a reward of Rs. 10 lakh on his head. For several years, Burhan and other Hizb commanders have depended on terrorists trained in Pakistan to swell their ranks.

However, he has now found a new tool to attract local youth – social media.

If media reports are to be believed, then Burhan is active on social networking site ‘Facebook’, he also manges several websites and fan pages under names like  Tiger Tral, HM Tral, Burhan Tral etc.

Burhan keeps changing the names of his Facebook pages and uses ‘Whatsapp’ effectively to spread his message.

From the past six months, Burhan has been releasing videos, photographs and messages through the net and mobile phones to allure young Kashmiris. In the videos, which have gone viral on the Internet, young men in battle fatigues can be seen displaying sophisticated weapons in abandoned orchards.

In some of the pictures he had posted earlier, militants do not even bother to cover their faces.

Burhan, who has become the face of new-age terrorism in the Kashmir Valley, has been trying to change the psyche of the local youth of south Kashmir.

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction of three convicts -Yadav, Vishal Yadav, Sukhdev Pehalwan – in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

The SC, however, agreed to hear the issue of quantum of punishment in the said case. The apex court also issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Police over their jail sentences.

Meanwhile speaking to news agency ANI, Nitish’s mother Neelam expressed her delight with the verdict, saying it is a very big day.

“What I have been saying for 13 and a half years, that stand has been vindicated, highest court of country has upheld the conviction,” she added.

Delhi High Court had earlier dismissed a plea by Vikas Yadav, who is serving a 30-year jail term without remission in the Katara murder case, seeking extension of the parole granted to him.

Yadav was in April granted seven-day custody parole by the high court to visit his 93-year-old ailing grandfather and to challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court.

After expiry of parole, he had again moved the high court for an extension of three more weeks.

However, on April 10, the high court’s single-judge bench dismissed the plea and the order, which Yadav challenged before the division bench.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw dismissed the appeal, saying the single-judge order of granting one week’s parole was free from “perversity or illegality”.

Challenging the April 10 order, Yadav had said he was not able to prepare the appeal in seven days of parole time granted to him, and thus needed extension of parole as the documents in the case were bulky and more time was needed to prepare his appeal in the Supreme Court.

Police, however, opposed the plea, saying enough time had been granted to him to prepare for appeal.

The high court on February 6 had enhanced to a 30-year jail term without remission the life sentence awarded to Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav for Katara’s murder.

In a big relief for Congress, Enforcement Directorate has decided to close the National Herald case, said sources. The ED decided to close the case citing technical reasons.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi were summoned in the case in June 2014 after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint accusing them of cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of the now-defunct English daily National Herald.

Swamy alleged misappropriation of assets worth Rs. 2000 crore of the National Herald newspaper.

Reacting to this Swamy said, “There has been political influence from the Congress party to close the National Herald case.”

Among the other leaders who had received summons include Congress leader Motilal Vora and senior party member Oscar Fernandes.

Chief of radical women’s outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM, Asiya Andrabi, who had stoked a controversy by addressing a rally organised by 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud Dawah (JuD) in Pakistan over phone, was booked by the authorities under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, said reports on Monday.

In her telephonic address to the rally, organised in Lahore on August 14, Andrabi had greeted the people of the neighbouring country on their Independence Day and spewed venom against the Indian establishment.

JuD chief Saeed was seen sitting on the stage during Andrabi’s address.

Hours before her address, the DeM chief had celebrated Pakistan’s Independence Day at her residence. Dozens of DeM activists had gathered in Bachpora area of the city where they celebrated Pakistan’s Independence Day and waved Pakistani flag.

Andrabi’s telephone address triggered a controversy with BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president Jugal Kishore demanding strict action against her.

“These are instances of treason and will not be tolerated at all…Asiya Andrabi should be arrested.I expect that she would have been arrested by now and a case of treason would have been registered against her.”

Congress spokesman RPN Singh demanded that concrete action should be taken against those working against the state.

“The NSA-level talks are slated to be held on August 23-24. A lot of talks have happened and the government claims about a breakthrough. But, with the terrorists attacking India, there is an urgent need to take concrete action against them, whether it is Hafiz Saeed or Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi via these talks with Pakistan.”