Misdirected shot

Last week,the J&K government turned on the heat,slapping the Public Safety Act against stone-pelters and making the act one of ‘waging war against the state’,a crime punishable with death or life in jail. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke of Pakistani guidance to the pelters and the money and the gang leaders behind these acts.

Ahmad insists he doesn’t do this for a living; it’s an ideology,he says.

“For me stone-pelting is the only expression of resistance,” says Ahmad,a post-graduate from Kashmir University. He passed his exams last year and says is waiting for a job. “The militant movement lost its relevance after 9/11 and the world community doesn’t accept armed resistance as a means of struggle anymore. What can we do now? We come out to protest peacefully but are not allowed. Then we vent our anger by pelting stones at the police.”

Ahmad,like many of his stone-pelting friends,is from a middle-class family in downtown Srinagar. His father is an employee with the state government and his mother is a homemaker. Two years ago,when the Amarnath land row gripped the Valley,Ahmad,egged on by his friends,picked up a stone and threw it at some security personnel.

Ahmad likes his cricket and has played and watched enough of the game to get the action right. Ever since,he hasn’t missed a single Friday protest.

“I was fortunate not to be hit by a bullet or a tear smoke shell,” he says. “I was once hit by a stone and that forced me to stay indoors for two weeks with a mild fracture. That is the only time I stayed away from the street,” he says with a hint of pride.

Has he ever felt for people on the other side—the policeman or the CRPF jawan? “Yes,sometimes when I see blood on the face of a policeman,I feel bad,” Ahmad says. “I stop for a while but when I see my friends being hit,I throw more stones.”

J&K first started booking stone-pelters under the Public Safety Act during the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation. Nearly 1,500 CRPF jawans have been injured in stone pelting incidents in the past year-and-a-half and around 373 vehicles have been damaged.

At the hint of a civilian killing,an alleged harassment by the security forces or a shutdown called by separatists,boys like Ahmad take to the streets in every part of Kashmir Valley. They have their favourite spots—the old city in Srinagar,the old town in Baramulla,Sopore and Anantnag in south Kashmir.

Police say the stone-pelting sessions are organised by ring leaders and funded by separatists—which,they say,explains how such protests start simultaneously at several places across Kashmir. “This is an organised effort by the separatists to disturb peace in the Valley,” says a top police officer. “In every area,there are some ring leaders who are paid by the separatists to organise stone pelting. These ring leaders pay a part of the money to some youth,who are tasked to initiate the stone pelting”.

But Ahmad doesn’t agree. “Is anything worth a life,” he asks. “When my friends and I take to the streets,we know anything can happen. We have seen our friends dying on the streets. A lot of us have been wounded by the bullets and tear gas shells fired by the police and the CRPF,” he says. But Ahmad admits that ring leaders probably get paid. “That must be a minority,but for the majority of us,it is just a way to express our anger,” he says.

And if Ahmad is to be believed,there is a method to this fury. There are three lines of stone-pelters,he says. “The first line has the youth,who pelt stones at the police. If the police chases us,we escape through the lanes and bylanes and the second line of pelters attacks the police,forcing them to retreat,” he says. “The final line has younger children who supply the stones—they collect them from the neighbourhood.” Ahmad says their “friends with mobile phones” are stationed at strategic spots,informing these pelters about the police movement.

The stone pelters have even taken their battle to the Internet. Facebook communities such as ‘Kaushar Haatyar—Kann’e Jang’ (Kashmiri weapon—stone pelting) and Anjuman e Himaayat e Sangbazaan e Kashmir (The Association of Supporters of Stone-pelters) has managed to draw people.

Does Ahmad believe his act has the support of Kashmiris caught in a daily battle on the streets? “We don’t need to motivate anyone,” he says. “When the police and CRPF kill a young boy or injure one of us,it is enough to raise passions.”

Away from the streets,Ahmad is just another 23-year-old. “I read a lot in the evenings. I like to read the latest books on Kashmir and also novels by Paulo Coelho. I also like to play and watch cricket,” he says.