Stone pelting in Kashmir

Stone pelting in Kashmir refers to a criminal assault in the form of stone throwing by Kashmiri Muslim youth who pelt, bombard or throw stones on the Indian security forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police deployed for crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir. In the local language, it is termed as "Kanni Jung", which means fighting with stones and the stone pelters are called as Sangbaaz.[1][2][3][4]

Kashmiri Muslim youth throwing stones at Indian armed forces during 2016 Kashmir Unrest

Background and History
See also: Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir

In the past, stones were pelted by the Kashmiri Muslim youth on the police in the streets of Srinagar for expressing their anger during 1931 Kashmir agitation.[5] After the rise of insurgency and separatist movement in Kashmir conflict, the stone pelting incidents became prominent in Kashmir from the 2008 Kashmir protests in which the separatist movement had taken a new dimension from gun-fighting with armed forces to the pelting of stones on them.[1][6] After the year 2008, stone pelting incidents in the valley were reported on regular basis, the prominent among them were recorded in 2010 Kashmir Unrest and 2016-17 Kashmir Unrest, nevertheless minor skirmishes were also reported in those intermediate years.[7][8]

In 2017 the publicity office of the Pakistan Army (Inter-Services Public Relations) produced an anthem for the stone-pelters which was based on real what happened in Jammu and Kashmir, entitled Sangbaaz ("stone-pelters,) the lyrics refer to the allegation that soldiers shoot rubber bullets at rock-throwers eyes to blind them, "You can snatch out our eyes, but you cannot snatch our dreams."[9] The song, which celebrates the stone-pelters as heroes working for the liberation of Kashmir was released on video by Major General Asif Ghafoor in a tweet.[10]

The act of stoning(rajm ) is mentioned in multiple Hadiths. However some factions within Islam disagree with the legality of rajm . In Pakistan, military dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who implemented Sharia law reconstituted a court, which declared rajm as Islamic.

Commentary

According to scholar Waheeda Khan, most of the 'stone-pelters' are school and college going students. The stone-pelters, in turn get attacked by the armed personnel with pellets, rubber bullets, sling shots and tear gas shells. This leads to eye-injuries and several other kind of injuries to many people. Security forces also face injuries, and sometimes get beaten up during these events. Large number of these people get arrested during these events for allegedly resorting to stone-pelting, after which some of them are also tortured. According to political activist Mannan Bukhari, Kashmiris made stone, an easily accessible and defenseless weapon, their weapon of choice for protest.[11][12]. Incidents have been there where Kashmiri youth was hired during protests for stone pelting.[2]

Kashmiri senior journalist Parvaiz Bukhari remarked:[12]

The summer of 2010 witnessed a convulsion in the world’s most militarized zone, the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, an unprecedented and deadly civil unrest that is beginning to change a few things on the ground. [...] Little known and relatively anonymous resistance activists emerged, organizing an unarmed agitation more fierce than the armed rebellion against Indian rule two decades earlier. And apparently aware of the post 9/11 world, young Kashmiris, children of the conflict, made stones and rocks a weapon of choice against government armed forces, side-stepping the tag of a terrorist movement linked with Pakistan. The unrest represents a conscious transition to an unarmed mass movement, one that poses a moral challenge to New Delhi’s military domination over the region.

An essay in The Hindu claimed that stone pelting is driven by the brutal killings of Kashmiri youth at the hands of Indian forces.[6]

On 28 April 2017, talking about the stone pelters in Kashmir, the Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat has said, "In fact, I wish these people, instead of throwing stones at us, were firing weapons at us. Then I would have been happy. Then I could do what I (want to do)."[13]

The Special Director General (J&K) Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) N K Tripathi stated that since the militancy related activities have declined in the region,

"a new form of gunless terrorism in the shape of stone-pelting has emerged in Kashmir", "It is being funded by Pakistan and its agencies through Over Ground Workers (sympathisers of militants) and hawala channels" with an objective to disturb the peace in Kashmir and India. He added that "There are a large number of instances of unprovoked stone-pelting by hostile mobs on CRPF that has left 1500 jawans injured and close to 400 vehicles damaged in the last one-and-a-half year" (2009-10).[14]

Reports

During the 2016–17 Kashmir unrest, in March 2017, India Today, after conducting an investigative operation in the Valley, has reported that some stone-pelters are paid for protesting by separatist forces. India Today interviewed five protesters from Baramulla district who confessed on camera that they are paid an amount of Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000 a month and are also provided with clothes and shoes. One of them also said that separate funds are given for making petrol bombs. They refused to disclose the identity of the financiers.[15] In April 2017, a report by Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) has stated that the Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) supplied Rs 800 crore to Kashmiri separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Asiya Andrabi to fuel unrest in the Valley. As per the report, the funds supplied by the ISI were used to pay off stone-pelters and petrol bomb throwers, and also to propagate anti-India and anti-security forces sentiments in the Valley.[16]

Incidents

In 2016, Kashmir witnessed 2690 stone pelting incidents in various districts with Baramulla topping the list with 492 incidents followed by Srinagar and Kupwara each with 339 incidents. The least recorded incidents were 65 in Ganderbal. According to official data of state home department, North Kashmir saw the highest number of 1,248 incidents followed by 875 incidents in South Kashmir and 567 in Central Kashmir.[17]

On 7 September 2018, Jammu and Kashmir plainclothes policemen disguised themselves as stone-pelters and mingled among a stone pelting mob in Srinagar, resulting in the successful arrests of repeat stone-pelting offenders.[18] The policemen threw stones as well as used toy guns as part of the disguise.[19] This strategy had previously been used by the police in the region during the 2010 unrest in Kashmir.[20][21]

On 25 October 2018, an Indian army soldier was killed after sustaining head injuries in a stone pelting incident in Anantnag district of South Kashmir.[4] The Indian army soldier was identified to be Rajendra Singh, a 22 year old from Uttarakhand. An army spokesperson said that Sepoy Rajendra Singh was part of a "Quick Reaction Team" that was providing security to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) convoy.[22] Following the event Army chief General Bipin Rawat said that stone pelters are like terrorists and must be dealt with sternly, repeating his earlier stand that the stone-pelters are nothing but over ground workers of terror outfits, “I still say the same... If they (stone-pelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becoming like terrorists.”[23][24][25]

Sangbaaz Association posters

In July 2016, posters attributed to a group of stone-pelters, calling themselves as "Sangbaaz Association Jammu and Kashmir, Azad Kashmir", were seen in Srinagar.[26] The posters listed various points, including threatening to burn girls alive for riding scooters. The text read as - “we request all girls please don't use of scooty if we saw any girl who ride scooty we will burn the scooty as well as the girl.”[27][28] Kashmiri media blackened out the report of the threats, but it was carried by media agencies and houses such as Press Trust of India, The Indian Express and The Quint. Reacting to the blackout, Shujaat Bukhari, Editor-in-Chief of Rising Kashmir stated, "The issue is that you don’t know who is putting up these posters... There is no authenticity."[29]

gollark: * other people
gollark: Given that some people actually lost a significant amount of points, they must be better at guessing than me, hmm.
gollark: I guess a majority of the people guessing didn't actually say much here.
gollark: And yet still -2 points somehow.
gollark: 15 was COLTRANS?!

See also

References
  1. "Stone Pelting and Kashmiri Youth". The Analyst World. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  2. "Stone Pelters on hire in Kashmir". India Today. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  3. "Life gone too soon: Friends remember dog lover R Thirumani who was killed by stone-pelters in J&K". dna. 8 May 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  4. "J-K: Soldier suffers head injury during stone-pelting, dies". The Indian Express. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  5. Kaur, Ravinderjit (1996). Political Awakening in Kashmir. APH Publishing. p. 164. ISBN 9788170247098.
  6. "Understanding Kashmir's stone pelters". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  7. "Kashmir Shuts To Remember Afzal Guru - Local News". Kashmir Observer. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  8. "Kashmir Unrest: Stone-pelting Incidents Reported from Over Dozen Places". News18. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. Constable, Pamela (6 February 2017). "Pakistan's Kashmir Solidarity Day co-opted by supporters of detained Muslim cleric". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  10. "Pakistan army releases song glorifying stone pelters". The Times of India. TNN. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  11. Deb, Sibnath (5 August 2015). "Waheeda Khan, Conflict in Kashmir.". Child Safety, Welfare and Well-being: Issues and Challenges. Springer. p. 88. ISBN 9788132224259.
  12. Bukhari, Mannan (28 July 2015). Kashmir - Scars of Pellet Gun: The Brutal Face of Suppression. Partridge Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 9781482850062.
  13. "Army chief Bipin Rawat on Kashmir unrest: Wish protesters fired at us instead of pelting stones". India Today. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  14. "Now 'gunless terror' stalks JK - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  15. "Stone pelters on hire in Kashmir: India Today nails Valleys insidious villains". India Today. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  16. "Pakistans ISI paid Kashmiri separatists Rs 800 crore to fuel unrest in Kashmir, says Intelligence Bureau report". India Today. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  17. "Kashmir witnessed 2690 stone pelting incidents in 2016". Kashmirmonitor.in. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  18. "How J&K cops used a novel strategy to nab stone-pelters in Srinagar - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  19. "Toy guns, covert cops: Jammu and Kashmir Police plants its men among stone pelters to catch real culprits in action - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  20. "Jammu and Kashmir policemen disguise as stone pelters to catch real culprits". Hindustan Times. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  21. "J&K Policemen Disguise As Stone Pelters To Arrest Culprits". Outlook India. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  22. "22-year-old soldier injured in stone throwing in Jammu and Kashmir, dies". Hindustan Times. 26 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  23. "Kashmir Stone-Throwers Targeting Soldiers Are Like Terrorists: Army Chief". NDTV.com. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  24. "Army chief says stone-pelters in J&K must be dealt with sternly". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  25. "Stone-pelters working for terror outfits, says Army Chief General Bipin Rawat". dna. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  26. "Poster in Srinagar warns girls, shopkeepers". The Indian Express. Press Trust of India. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  27. "Posters Issued in Kashmir Threaten Girls on Scooties, Reports Say". The Quint. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  28. Hassan, Ishfaq (31 July 2016). "If you ride Scooty, you'll be killed, J & K stone-pelters' body threatens girls". DNA. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  29. Ahmad Khan, Saif (2 August 2016). "Kashmiri media blackens out threats issued to scooty-riding girls - Exchange4media". Exchange4Media. Retrieved 2 March 2019.

Further reading
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