Should young children be allowed to form part of the crowds of stone pelters venting their anger and smashing property? In a large number of these protests, fathers were seen carrying their sons, some even toddlers, on their shoulders, as they braced themselves to face the bullets of the security forces.
Schoolteachers across the Valley are appalled at how innocent children were brought into the streets by their guardians at a time when passion was running high and when the police and the CRPF were known to be using excessive violence to quell this urban warfare.
From June 11, when the violence first erupted, 48 people, many of them young teenagers, have lost their lives in this spiral of violence.
“How can parents put their young children at risk?” asked Kiran Dhar of the Srinagar Delhi Public School.
Her sentiments are echoed by a senior professor of the Kashmir University, who points out that, “These images shown repeatedly on television are going to haunt our psyche for a long time to come.’’ Tahir Mohiuddin, editor of Srinagar based weekly called Chettan, said, “Young boys have been in the forefront of this protest. Some of these boys are drop-outs and belong to the depressed classes. But when a junoon takes over, passions get inflamed and people can act in an irresponsible manner.”
Nizamuddin Bhat, MLA with the PDP party feels that this criticism is unjustified. “Entire families have come out to register their protest. Fathers, mothers, grandmothers and young people. In Pampore, there were images of children being brought out onto to the streets by their families but it was to register a protest,” said Bhat. The violence of the younger generation is further fuelled because of lack of economic opportunities and jobs. Bhat pointed out, “Five lakh youth have registered themselves for employment. Not only has the state government failed to create jobs but they also failed to utilise the funds that have been allocated to them.”
There are some voices who state that stone pelting is “paid-for” activity and the leaders who are instigating this remain at large.