Rebels threaten Internet cafes

INDIA: A hardline Islamic rebel group in Indian Kashmir ordered Internet cafes to demolish closed-door cabins where users surf, claiming they are being used for “licentious” purposes.

The al Badr Mujahedin group, which has claimed responsibilities for many deadly attacks on Indian troops in the revolt-hit state, issued no deadline and did not say what action it would take if its order was disobeyed.

“The cabins in the Internet cafes facilitate licentious activities. These cabins should be abolished,” the group said in a telephone statement to Current News Service, a local media agency.

There are hundreds of Internet cafes throughout the Himalayan state and many have cabins with doors and room for two people to sit and surf.

Police said they had received complaints in the past that couples were viewing pornographic sites and behaving in an “intimate fashion” in the Internet cabins.

Srinagar, Thursday, AFP