Srinagar: More than a year after Indian army gunned down Hizbul Mujahiddin commander Burhan Wani in Jammu and Kashmir, the valley is still simmering with violence. The students and security forces clash on a regular basis, leading to deaths and injuries.
The young school goers are seen hurling stones at the security forces, at times, even kicking the jawan in the shins, expressing their anger. What forces them to take this path?
Shahid, a class 12 student, got swayed by everyone at school who resorted to stone pelting, not regularly though. He wishes to write the Kashmir Administrative Exam and become an SDM.
"We would protest whenever we got a call from the Hurriyat leaders," Shahid tells CNN-News18, adding that unemployment was another factor that "drove us towards stonepelting".
Stone pelting, however, hasn't borne fruit for Shahid. After "losing out" on his school, Shahid is now "stuck in jail".
Faisal, another youngster, has now understood that stonepelting was never of any use, after having participated in the exercise just once. He fumes over the fact that kids of Hurriyat leaders study abroad. "Their kids study abroad, but they are ruining our lives here," says Faisal, adding that he didn't ask his parents when he became a stonepelter that one time.
While unemployment compelled Shahid to pick up a stone, Muzamil, despite calling it wrong, threw stones to "earn money". Poverty forced him out of school; he could just study up to class 10.
"We pelt stones to earn money. The rich go abroad to study. We are poor, we stay here and pelt stones," says Muzamil, who, given a chance, would like to take the engineering exam.
The violence and protests in the Valley, triggered by the death of Burhan Wani, have seen the death toll rise every passing day. The PDP-BJP led government has come under fire for having failed to take control of the situation.
Comments
0 comment