Appeals for strict action against rumour mongers grow
Srinagar: A day after rumor over pulse polio immunization created panic in the Valley, police has picked up some youth suspected to be involved in spreading rumors. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, told KNS that the persons involved in spreading rumors have not been arrested so far “but police has picked up some suspected youth from various areas in the Valley for questioning”.
Police has directed all the district police heads to investigate that the actual sources of these rumors. “Police has been fanned out across the Valley to unearth the rumor mongers who created huge panic among people on Sunday,” the IGP said. Worried residents of the valley told KNS that that some news portals as well as social networking pages have always misled and fuelled such terrible rumours in the past. “The so-called news groups, portals and other social networking sites have earlier mislead people in the valley.
Rumour mongering is becoming dangerous,” Rayees Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar said. People have appealed to police for strict action against such rumour mongers onm social network sites and on internet. From the wee hours of Sunday, the infants were vaccinated by the concern authorities.
Some unknown persons spread rumors saying that several children across the Valley have been died due to polio immunization thereby created panic among the parents whose children were vaccinated. With such reports, the Valley hospitals including SMHS, and GB Panth witnessed huge rush of patients.
However, the top health as well as administrative officials including Director Health, Sameer Mattoo and Principal GMC, Dr Kaisar termed the reports as baseless and appealed the police officials to take strict action against the person involved in spreading rumors. (KNS)