'Stones' don't differentiate between Kashmiris, non-Kashmiris

Kashmiri separatists invented 'stone-pelting' as an effective tool to target security forces in Kashmir but, little did they know that stones, like bullets, don't differentiate between Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris.

At least one Kashmiri family will not 'forgive' them. For, a 'stone' snatched this family's sole bread-earner.

Fifty-five-year-old Ali Mohammad Daga, a resident of Qamarwari in Srinagar, left his home on Monday. Nobody thought he would never return alive.

Daga was on election duty as a private vehicle driver and travelling with a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy from Chanapora to the bye-pass. When the convoy reached the bye-pass, masked stone-pelters attacked the CRPF jawans with 'stones'. But, flying stones didn't only target non-Kashmiri CRPF jawans. A stone first hit the front window pane of Daga's vehicle, damaging it completely. Terrified Daga pressed on the accelerator in order to save his life. But, as his vehicle picked up, a 'stone' pelted by an 'unidentified Kashmiri brother' hit him squarely on his head. Profusely bleeding Daga lost control on his vehicle and it overturned. Seeing an injured Kashmiri, some local youths rushed Daga to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Daga's wife, two daughters, and a son are in deep shock.

Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is believed to be the mastermind behind the menace of stone pelting.

Geelani has often termed stone pelting as a tool of resistance and is believed to have told Kashmiris that stone pelting invites less severe punishment as compared to attacking forces with guns and other arms, and second, stones inflict serious injuries which sometimes prove fatal as well.

Kashmiri separatists like Geelani have been trying hard to convince the world that stone-pelters 'are innocent Kashmiri youth who want freedom from India', but as a matter of fact, it has been established that stone-pelting in Kashmir is a 'job' and nothing else.

In the recent past, the security agencies have observed that stone-pelting is being done in a planned manner to help Pakistan sponsored terrorists.

In February, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warned Kashmiri stone-pelters who try to disrupt anti-terror operations in J&K that they will be treated as "overground workers of terrorists" and can be fired at.

General Rawat's warning came after three soldiers faced heavy stone-pelting at Parray Mohalla in Bandipore in north Kashmir when they were about to launch an operation against militants holed up there. Planned stone pelting alerted the militants and they killed soldiers.