Kashmir: Separatist group stamps currency with anti-India slogans

Srinagar: On Monday morning, 35-year-old Parveez Ahamd Mir, a resident of the upscale Raj Bagh locality in Srinagar, left to buy Kashmiri bread for his breakfast. Once at the bakers shop, he handed out a currency note in exchange but found that the notes were rejected. The baker pointed out that the Rs 500 currency note was stamped on both sides with separatist slogans, which he claimed could result in the bank refusing to accept it. The currency note, if a separatist group ‘Kashmir Graffiti’ is to believed, is among the Rs 30 crores worth of currency which has been stamped with separatist slogans by the anonymous group over last four months. Mir has a currency worth Rs 700 in his possession which have the separatist slogans and said he would try to deposit them in a bank. He doesn’t even remember where he got these notes. “May be a shopkeeper gave me a change but I didn’t realized at that time what was stamped on them. It was dark,” he said. Unknown till recently the anonymous separatist group ‘Kashmir Graffiti’, which is active on Facebook , has adopted a unique way of voicing their demand for a separate state by putting separatist slogans on currency notes. [caption id=“attachment_1044749” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An example of what the group has been putting out. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] The group has stamped the currency notes with ‘Go India Go Back, Leave Kashmir’, ‘Quit Kashmir’ and other slogans. In a statement posted on Facebook, the group said it had put such stamps on currency worth Rs 30 crores over the last four months. To prove its claim the group had even posted a video on YouTube showing the stamping of currency notes. However, no one either from police or the banking sector has verified this claim. “ We are hereby adding another dimension to our struggle against Indian autocratic rule,” the group said in its post on Facebook. “No matter how much death and persecution we will have to face, our brothers have laid down their lives for the cause. Some have taken this war to the cyber space and we also decided to spread the message using what they treat as their ‘God Money’," they said. Sajad Bazaz, the head of corporate communication of J&K Bank, says that the claim of having currency worth Rs 30 crore being stamped it still to be verified by police. “So far as the currency is concerned the stamped notes can’t be termed as invalid,” Bazaz said. But according to the ‘Clean Note Policy’, Reserve Bank Of India had circulated an order on 10 May, 2013 which states that inscription or scribbling on any part of the banknote would render it to be classified unfit for reissue. Accordingly, such banknotes get treated as soiled banknotes and cannot be re-circulated. For the moment, local residents like Mir say one has to be very careful in Kashmir while accepting cash from someone. “From today I will double check the currency notes received from shopkeepers.” He said.