THE ONLY NEWS MAGAZINE THAT COVERS ENTIRE JAMMU & KASHMIR INCLUDING POK

HOME SUBSCRIB NOW ARCHIVES VAISHNO DEVI GUIDE CONTACT US ABOUT US Jammu Kashmir Ladakh Home dec-31st-2009 Nov-30th-2009 Feb-28th-2009 jan-31st-2009	Online Edition

COVER NOV 30th 2009

REGULAR

NewsBag

BACK COVER

Shadows

ALL KASHMIR STONE PELTER’S ASSOCIATIONS Zindabad, Zindabad!

BY: SALMAN NIZAMI

Stone pelting (kaei laraei) has now become an inseparable part of our political existence. With it we live; without - we perish. Whatever the reason, how petty the background, wherever something has gone wrong on the planet earth, we are ready with stones to throw. Throw at whom? Not at those who have done it. Yes therein lies the tragedy, we throw them at our own selves. Bush attacks Iraq, I attack my neighbour’s house. Can there be a funnier example of self-destruction than this?

Stone pelting is not a new phenomenon in Kashmir. Here everything is historic. How can this public act of expressing anger be without history? It’s been a violent offshoot to regional politics based more on personal loyalties than on any ideological ground. The followers of two parties would find this as an effective means of winning over their rivals. Elders say that if a Kashmiri Pandit would pass by, they would put their fight on hold, let him pass unhurt and resume the battle like the second half of a soccer match with a renewed vigour. As their leaders would count their popularity according to the number of followers with them, followers would measure their success by the number of stones hitting the mark. Brick throwers would become legends as whose splinter would strike bang on the head would be hallowed as a hero. Where would these ‘brave hearts’ come from and who or what inspired them? There are different accounts. Some believe that stone pelting was like a contract signed not by all, but a chosen few. One man paid would hook many others to make the crowd big enough to terrify the opponents. With nothing to do, stone throwing was the best possible pastime for the lads of the city. The day would end leaving dozens wounded on both the sides.

Well, that is a long forgotten past, but the ghost haunts still. The nuisance of stone pelting has re-emerged and the Amarnath land grab offered a deceptively justifiable background to a savagery like this. Our Friday prayers remain unfinished and perhaps unaccepted till they are followed by a noisy stone fight with police or Para-military or if there is no one on the other side of the fence; we have public to release our steam on. Break a car, burn a tire, beat a man — mission accomplished.

Such mass behaviour has become not only intolerable but embarrassing also. From a conscious people we are dishonored to a crap heap of crude collectivity. This vulgarized form of protest has brought us nothing but shame. It injures not just our physical bodies which it evidently does; it leaves us wounded from within. When will we come to know the value of a decent mass behaviour. Those we call our ‘enemies’ protest with a dignified silence holding placards, banners without creating any furor. You love to be the part of that decency the same way you loathe to be identified with this non-sense. Imagine 20 lakh listeners disciplining themselves in front of their president making a speech that reaches every ear. We have still not learnt the methods of holding a decent protest. And we want freedom. Ironic!

This clutch of stone throwers comprises mostly children in their teens. Besides it’s being warmly participated by those bitten by the bug of joblessness. It’s a good day out for someone in search of smoking off the frustration of domestic, emotional, economic or professional deprivations. It has dividends. One that you show your so called strength and second you express your sentiment, no matter what you damage is your own property. Yes it has been observed as a form of protest by an armless people in colonized territories like ours. Palestinians do it against Israeli troops. But they do it as self-defense, ours is an obsession with self-destruction. In fact we are experts in doing the double damage. One, we destroy ourselves and second we let our oppressors destroy us by offering him a good ground to do so.

Now what to do? Accept it as our fate and get wounded every week to desecrate an auspicious day like Friday or to do our bit. Those who warn America and India have a better and an immediate job to perform. Please warn your own people. Hold them back and save a hundred heads from getting broken. America may not kill us till we are prepared to kill our own selves.

Subscribe Now

Latest World Headlines

sample

BACK| CONTACT US| ADVERTISE WITH US| ABOUT US