Are Adolf Hitler and Kim Jon-un batting for Kashmiri protestor? Yes, in a way. Nothing seems far-fetched for Kashmir’s Internet warriors. Both madcap despots feature along with a line-up of Hollywood stars in online videos taking pot-shots at the Indian state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Made using an Android app that’s appropriately called MadLipz, it lets users dub his/her voice over a short video clip. Using MadLipz, you can erase audio from a section of a video-clip and then dub that section (scenes or songs) with a voiceover in your own voice. It lets you record up to three tracks on one video to create a “Lip”. The app supports native sharing to Facebook’s Messenger, Messages, WhatsApp and Instagram – tools popularly used by Kashmiris today.

Tired of Internet shutdowns and other gags placed on media, Kashmir’s hyperactive online community seems to have found a new language of protest in MadLipz.

So, you have Kim Jong-un addressing the North Korean parliament. Using MadLipz, a Kashmiri netizen has altered Kim’s speech: “Listen to me carefully. Everything will be given to you – salt, oil, kerosene, ghee, butter, egg and flour. But stones will stay!” The entire parliament erupts in thundering applause.

 Hitler is seen berating his generals: “Do you call yourself cops?! You can’t even stop stone pelting! In Nowhatta [hotbed of stone pelting in downtown Srinagar] kids come out to pelt stones. You can’t even arrest a child. Now I know why they call cops crap!”

Meet MadLipz user Ishrat, who has two deep scars — one on his right cheek and another on forehead. They are markers of his past when he was “playing it cool” on streets. This 20-year-old describes himself an “online insurgent”, who wages a virtual war by sharing, posting and uploading material that questions Indian state’s role and legitimacy in Kashmir.

In 2010, with Kashmir erupting in mass civil uprising against school boy Tufail Mattoo’s killing, Ishrat tried to express his rage on streets. But the very next moment, he says, he found himself behind bars with cops beating him black and blue.

Once out, he gave up street fights for his ailing mother’s peace of mind. To channel his frustration, he has resorted to online dissent. “That is my way of registering protest,” he said.

The state police suspect a Pakistani hand in this darkly-comic satirical response to the current state of affairs in Kashmir. “Most of these videos are uploaded from Pakistan,” said SP Vaid, Director General of Police, Jammu & Kashmir. “They [Pakistan] have launched a social media war in Kashmir.” Vaid came to this conclusion after seeing one that shows a policeman saying, “I won’t go to Pulwama on duty now. They [stone pelters] tore off my clothes. I was badly beaten up. See, what they did to me (crying). Around eight people trampled over me before slamming me with a milk container.’ 

So, what’s happening?

Academician and analyst Professor Siddiq Wahid said, “Students in Jammu and Kashmir are not allowed even to form students’ unions. It is entirely understandable that they should adapt other methods and tools of protest. Technology is one.”

From 2008, Kashmir’s youth have been using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to express dissent. By the time RoushanIlahi, or MC Kash, came out with his hit rap number “I Protest” in 2010, Kashmiri voices of rage permeated social media.

“It is no wonder that whenever rage erupts in Kashmir, the authorities first ban the Internet,” said Saleem Ali, a Srinagar-based commentator. A notion prevails in political circles of Srinagar and Delhi that increasing the base of internet subscribers in J&K helps fuel the rage on ground. In fact, by December 2015, J&K had greater internet penetration than the bulk of the rest of India. Till the end of January 2017, there has been a noticeable shift from pre-paid to post-paid and with arrival of Reliance Jio, the state’s mobile subscriber base had crossed one crore.

But in a security zone like Kashmir, this level of penetration is not perceived as financial success as much as a threat. Last year, Ministry of Home Affairs’ report blamed social media for “fuelling trouble” in Kashmir when mobs took to the streets after the death of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani. The memory of that violence hasn’t faded. One MadLipz video targets chief minister Mehbooba Mufti by taking a shot at her father, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s ‘vision’ for Kashmir. It shows her addressing a crowd in south Kashmir: ‘Do you know, slaying Kashmiris was also Mufti Sayeed’s vision, using pellet guns was also his vision…” 

“The ‘political awakening’ took place as early as the 1960s,” said Professor Wahid. “It’s just that the communication revolution has allowed more effective reporting and publicising for mobilisation,” the professor says.

Human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who was jailed for 70 days last year for protesting the “state’s brutal response” to dissent, sees a larger picture behind the trend. “It [MadLipz’s popularity] shows that despite all provocations, people are trying to find alternative means to register their protest,” he said. “This international app has more videos uploaded from Kashmir than from any other place,” Parvez pointed out. “But it’s not about MadLipz. Boys here are uploading azadi songs on YouTube. They are resorting to painting, rap and other forms of art to register protest.”

He believes it is a sign of political awakening. “People have come out on the streets to protest and were killed, injured and blinded. That didn’t work,” he said. “MadLipz won’t trigger a desirable change in the Valley, but it will sustain our discourse of protest.”