The killing of innocent peaceful protesters in Sopore and the unprovoked indiscriminate firing and tear gas shelling on the peaceful procession at Lawaypora should be an eye opener to all those who have been opposing stone pelting in all its manifestations. For the likes of your eminent columnists and self styled pseudo politico-religious leaders , its high time for self introspection and the need to develop  a realistic vision. For any resistance movement, there are a series of different phases and one mode of resistance inevitably leads to another one. During the course of India's freedom struggle when Swadeshi and Boycott Movements fizzled out in the first decade of twentieth century, the energetic and motivated youth of Bengal, UP and Punjab resorted to Revolutionary Terrorism as a means to express their resentment against the Imperialists. This kind of activity again resurfaced when Ghandiji suspended the Khilafat - non-cooperation movement in the early twenties. These movements of revolutionary terrorism had due support of intellectual nationalist leaders particularly Lal, Bal and Pal.

The decade of nineties saw young Kashmiri boys taking guns in their hands to throw away the yolk of Indian occupation. After the turn of the century, the phase of gun culture was over and the younger generations evolved different modes of resistance, which culminated in stone pelting. Although, it is a fact that majority of the youth who resort to stone pelting belong to the generation of nineties and probably are unaware of the oppression the valleyites faced in nineties. Yet the generation carries the same legacy, which their elder generations have bequeathed from those who first raised the banner against Dogra Rule of Kashmir.

The absence of a genuine leader at times seem to add disorganisation to the energy these stone pelting youth carry, yet the genuineness and sincerity of their efforts is appreciable. Scores of IT literate young Kashmiris are equally zealous in their efforts on social network sites like Facebook and Tweeter etc.

The need of the hour is to understand the psyche and mood of these youngsters. Had it been a means of entertainment or incentive (money) driven, it would have been over, the movement the first young boy fell to the bullets of Indian Forces in 2008.

All our young blood need is to bring in a bit of organisation and discipline in their mode of resistance and history will definitely remember them for their sacrifices.

(Feedback at shamsulaejaz@yahoo.in)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST