The Amarnath Land row has brought to the fore a new generation of protestors in Kashmir, who use stones not guns. These new generation protestors are not militants.
The Amarnath Land row has brought to the fore a new generation of protestors in Kashmir, who use stones not guns. These new generation protestors are not militants. This unarmed confrontation, they say, makes their struggle no different from that of Mahatma Gandhi.
They call themselves the children of conflict, who have grown up in the shadow of the gun, unnoticed during the two decades of militancy in Kashmir. With tourism booming and militancy waning, they wanted and expected a fresh start. But the violence and economic blockade over the Amarnath land transfer row brought them out on the streets
“Was Gandhiji a terrorist because he was fighting for a cause? We too are fighting for a cause then why people are calling us terrorists?” asks a young protestor. They allege that paramilitary forces - trained to deal tactfully with civil protests - have opened fire on the young Kashmiri protestors. CRPF Spokesperson, Prabhakar Kumar Tripathi, admits the situation is tough. “Problem is that the public is just confronting CRPF with the stones. We are trying to contain them with the stones. If they try to torch the CRPF posts or bunkers or snatch weapons of CRPF personnel then there is no way out and we just fire in self-defence,” he says.
The protestors are not giving up either. Their demand is loud and clear: they want independence. They say they will agitate till the road from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad is reopened. “We will fight for our independence till our last breath. Now it’s a question of our survival because blocked the road,” says a protestor.
Show/Hide comments
