Eulogized by some, demonized by some, attacked and defended, stone pelters remained the centre of unrest in Kashmir this year and dominated the discourse. Ilham Hassan analyses.
On December 8, police detained a college lecturer Noor Muhammad Bhat for setting a question paper for the undergraduate examinations of Kashmir University. He had asked the students to discuss whether the stone pelters were real heroes. Never ever has a college lecturer been detained in Kashmir for setting up a question paper. The evaluators would assess the students’ response to the question and judge their command over English language in the coming days. However, the question paper has resurfaced the debate on the phenomenon called stone-pelting in Kashmir. For the authorities, asking such a question is seditious and fit to book the Gandhi Memorial College lecturer under Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act. For separatists and many commoners, the question was a reflection of ground situation in Kashmir and one of the methods to document the “resistance movement” in Kashmir.
Bhat’s arrest is the major episode in the ideological and real-world showdown on the phenomenon called stone-pelting, which dominated the discourse in Kashmir in 2008 and 2010. The emergence of stone-pelting as a mark of public resentment against the powers that be, says young journalist Rakib Altaf, is major indicator of the shift from gun-wielding rebellion to gun-less popular uprising. The authorities are aware of the shift and its mass appeal and acceptance, within and outside. Therefore, they are on a mission to demonize the stone-pelters and create theories to attach them with violence and militancy, says Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah.
Stone-throwers and the phenomenon of stone-pelting emerged as a major challenge to the authorities in Kashmir in 2010. By the authorities’ own admissions, the majority of 112 civilian killings, which occurred in Kashmir at the hands of police and paramilitaries (after the June 11 killing of a teenage student), were in reaction to stone-pelting. Most of the police statements justified opening of fire on mobs which resorted to stone-pelting.
The 2010 public uprising emerged in two separate phases both dominated by this phenomenon. The first phase occurred between January and March when police and Border Security Force personnel killed teenagers Wamiq Farooq and Zahid Farooq in Srinagar.
The resentment against these killings was by and large through stone-pelting in lanes and alleys of the capital city. During this period Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blamed his political opponents for aiding and abetting stone-pelting “to de-stabilize his government”. Omar even quoted a taped conversation between People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti asking police officers to release stone-pelters. The government claimed that separatist groups were encouraging stone-pelting by hiring youngsters against monetary benefits.
The allegations and counter-allegations were raging when the situation took another serious turn in mid-June shortly after the expose of killing of three youngsters in Macchil sector of the Line of Control. The village boys had been lured by the army to be engaged as labourers at the LoC. However, they were killed in a staged encounter and passed off as infiltrators. The army officers, at the conclusion of their stint in Kashmir, executed the fake encounter to earn promotions and cash rewards.
When the reality on fake encounter surfaced, separatists asked the people to exhibit resentment. On June 11, 17-year-old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo was hit by a teargas shell fired by the police, though his relatives claim that he was not part of any stone-pelting mob. “Tufail’s death outraged youngsters who engaged in stone-pelting to avenge his killing. The stones thrown on police and paramilitaries invited bullets but the outraged youngsters continued to show their resentment”, said Mukhtar Ahmad, a resident of old Srinagar, who claims the stone-pelting was Kashmiris’ “tool of resentment” for several centuries.
Tufail’s death triggered massive public protests in the Valley culminating on a series of deaths at the hands of police and Central Reserve Police Force. The cycle of killings travelled from Srinagar to Sopore, Baramulla and Islamabad. In three months, 112 civilians were killed, hundreds others injured, some of them with permanent disabilities, and more than 3,000 persons were taken into custody.
This is the second phase when the stone-pelting phenomenon resurfaced in the Valley in 2010. “The stone-pelting and massive public protests demolished claims of the Government of India that Kashmiri people were content with their rule. The peaceful demonstrations were a statement of rebellion,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, head of Hurriyat (M).
On June 24, now-detained leader of Geelani-led faction of Hurriyat, Masarat Alam announced to launch “Quit Kashmir Campaign”. Alam, police says, was responsible for coordinating stone-pelting against the police and paramilitaries in Srinagar and other restive parts of the Valley. The stone-pelting emerged as a major challenge to the writ of Omar Abdullah led coalition government. Residents of old city in Srinagar, Sopore and Baramulla say that there were many occasions when several areas were completely dominated by stone-pelters. The police and paramilitaries beat retreat and confined themselves to barracks.
Interestingly, the stone-pelting phenomenon arrested the attention of international media towards Kashmir. Major international newspapers and television networks arrived in Kashmir to feature the phenomenon, which was acknowledged as a major shift in anti-India “resistance” in Kashmir, previously symbolized by guns and grenades. Hordes of reporters from New Delhi also arrived to interview the stone-pelters and understand their frame of mind. Discussions and debates were organised at prime time to trace the root cause of the resentment that forces a youngster to take up stones without thinking for the consequences.
The government was worried on the emerging situation. The stone-pelters dominated the streets during the day and justified their actions on facebook, twitter and TV debates during the night. “This growing rebellion became the major cause of worry for the government,” an intelligence officer told Kashmir Life. “The situation became even worse when the agitators resorted to arson, damaging government property like offices, police stations and railway installations,” he said.
Observers say that the authorities adopted multi-pronged strategy to rein in stone-pelters and their growing influence. The central leaders acknowledged mistakes and resolved to address them through political intervention through engagement with every section of the society, especially the youngsters. The all-party parliamentary delegation and its eight politico-economic recommendations were aimed at youngsters -ranging from opening of educational institutions to release of detained youngsters. Home Minister P Chidambaram even declared that charges against the youngsters would be withdrawn.
After the arrival of parliamentary delegation on September 20, the security forces’ freedom to open fire on protestors was checked. This halted the spree of civilian killings. However, the authorities simultaneously launched a massive crackdown on stone-pelters. Nocturnal raids became a routine and hundreds of youngsters were taken into custody.
“Many suspected stone-pelters’ close relatives were arrested to force them to surrender before the police,” said Muhammad Imran, a resident of old Srinagar. If the figures released by New Delhi-appointed interlocutors are anything to go by, 3000 youngsters were taken into custody. Though most of them were let off, more than 50 youngsters have been detained under Public Safety Act. “Those who have been released, have gone through worst kind of torture, a tool that has been used by the rulers to break the nerve of youngsters,” said Khurram Parvez, spokesman of the Coalition of Civil Society.
Police activated its ground level intelligence network to identify the stone-throwers. Shabir Shah says that arrest of youngsters on charges of stone-pelting became a lucrative business for the police officers. “Huge sums of money are being demanded from the parents of youngsters lest they are indexed in police records. The parents have been paying anything between 10 to 60 thousand rupees”, Shah said.
On the other hand, police claimed that the stone-pelters were in close coordination with separatist politicians and militants. When three youngsters were killed in a controversial encounter at Qamarwari, Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said that one of them was involved in stone-pelting incidents and organising anti-India demonstrations. Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) announced that they were probing to find out link between the stone-throwers and militant groups besides establishing that money transactions were involved to sustain stone-pelting.
A Jammu based newspaper quoted DGP Kuldeep Khoda claiming that Masarat Aalam has revealed during interrogation that he received Rs 40 lacs from Geelani to organize protests and stone-pelting.
On December 27, Deputy Inspector General (north Kashmir) Muneer Khan claimed that they exposed a “syndicate” of stone-pelters lured by Geelani-led faction of Hurriyat. Khan claimed that stone-pelters were receiving money (Rs 400) from shopkeepers in fruit market of Sopore and sawmill owners. He claimed that many workers of Geelani faction were involved in stone-pelting, who have close links with Abdullah Uni and Kalimullah of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
The police claims evoked strong resentment from Geelani’s faction. “It is preposterous to think that people can take bullets on their chests and be ready to sacrifice their lives for 400 rupees.”
“We challenge the police to prove its allegations that Hurriyat (G) and militants are paying to stone pelters. The widespread recognition earned by our peaceful struggle on world level this year has frustrated New Delhi and mainstream parties, particularly the ruling National Conference. Now they are fabricating baseless stories through the police and other agencies to give a violent colour to our peaceful movement and implicate the leadership in false cases,” a Hurriyat spokesman said.
Sources said that the stone-pelters have been given funny names and aliases to make them appear as “dreaded militants or social outcastes”. “This is done under a meticulous plan to demonize the stone-pelting, which has attained global recognition as a potent tool to exhibit resistance,” said a Kashmir University professor pleading anonymity. He said that internationally acclaimed scholars like Arundhati Roy counselled Kashmiris to protect the gains achieved during 2010 summer by disallowing short-circuiting. “The linear progression achieved during the past months was primarily through stone-pelting and peaceful demonstrations. The authorities are now hell-bent to project these achievements as bogus and corrupt,” he said.
The professor opines that instead of recognizing the ground realities, this mind-set of the authorities would be counterproductive. The opposition PDP President Mehbooba Mufti agrees, “The repressive policies of the government have dashed all the achievements of the past to ground. The peace constituency is again shrinking and youth are feeling smothered and subjugated,” she said. “Such a situation is likely to push the state back to anarchist years of early 1990’s. Pushing youngsters to wall instead of finding avenues for their development and redressing their problems would pave way for another spell of anarchy and lawlessness,” she said.
