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Video: Suspected Kashmiri militants play cricket with AK47 as wicket

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Jul 13, 2017, 12:47 PM IST
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The video appears to have been shot in South Kashmir Photograph:(WION)

A video of suspected Kashmiri militants playing cricket went viral on social media on Thursday. 

The five-minute-long video shows five young men playing cricket in what appears to be an orchard. 

They use an AK47 as the bowler's wicket. 

The video (above) appears to have been shot in south Kashmir. 

The video is propaganda, which the militancy in Kashmir has used to powerful effect. 

Thursday's video has been released two days after the attack on the Amarnath Yatra pilgrims, in which seven people died and 15 were injured. 

It is impossible to say if the video was released because of the attack. 

But it is important to mention that the attack on the pilgrims was denounced by every section of Kashmiri society -- the politicians, the leaders of the Hurriyat, and civil society.

In Srinagar, students, traders, and civil society groups took out a rally to protest against the attack. 

In the video, the young men appear relaxed, looking like they are enjoying their game of cricket. 

An Urdu song plays in the background. Translated, it says: 

"I hate sin, I am a fidayeen of my faith
I fight the unjust of my times
You pretend to be a gentleman, but you love the non-believer
More than Islam, you love sin 
You hate the resistance, you love democracy"

Photographs of militants or videos like this one spread quickly. 

A 2015 "group photograph" of Burhan Wani -- along with 10 other young men posing for the camera in an orchard like the one in this video -- had also gone viral.