At least 10 official websites including those of premier educational institutions like Delhi University (DU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi and IIT BHU - were hacked on Tuesday with "Pakistan Zindabad" slogans displayed on them, triggering fears of sabotage and cyber-terror.

The hacker group, which identified itself as "Pakistan Haxors Crew (PHC)", said, "nothing deleted or stolen. Just here to deliver my message to Indians."

Other websites which have been hacked are University of Kota; Army Institute of Management and Technology, Greater Noida; Defence Institute of Advanced Technology; Army Institute of Management, Kolkata, National Aerospace Laboratories and Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS).

"Greetings Government of India, and the people of India. Do you know what your so-called heroes (soldiers) are doing in Kashmir? Do you know they are killing many innocent people in Kashmir?" read the message displayed on the ten websites.

"Do you know they have raped many girls? Do you know they still are raping girls in Kashmir? How would you feel if your brother, sister, father and mother gets killed? How would you feel if someone rapes your mother or sister? Won't your life and your families be destroyed?" it added.

"Pakistan Zindabad", was the caption of the two videos of the army's alleged brutalities in Kashmir and the protest of the people over it. Delhi University Registrar Tarun Das said, "The website was inaccessible from outside the campus for some time due to some problems in the domain name. Servers were pointing incorrectly to another site."

"The problem was detected and immediately rectified by contacting ERNET, which has provided the domain name for University of Delhi," he added.

The AMU spokesperson said that the matter has been brought to their notice and their IT department is looking into the issue. The authorities at the two IITs could not be reached for comment.

On being contacted, Delhi Police's Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, Madhur Verma said they had not got any complaint from any city-based educational institution in this regard so far.  The AMU said its Information Technology department was looking into the matter. The hacking comes amid students' unrest in the Kashmir Valley.

Normal life was hit in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir due to a shutdown called by a few right- wing Hindu groups to protest the "failure" of police to arrest members of a nomadic family for "smuggling cattle and raising anti-national slogans" on Thursday.

The student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ABVP, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, transporters' and trading organisations have also demanded that the police release 11 people arrested for "thrashing" two members of the nomadic family while they were transporting bovines without permission.

"A complete shut down was observed in the town. A peaceful procession was taken out by the protesters. They have given a memorandum to the administration," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Reasi, Tahir Bhat said. The SSP said there was no untoward incident reported and the situation is under control.

Copyright: The Statesman/ Asia News Network