When angry schoolgirls took Lal Chowk by storm
Monday was just another day in office when we witnessed teargas shelling in Lal Chowk, the heart of Srinagar. My phone’s SIM card had crashed and Tuesday being a holiday, my husband suggested I get it changed.
We had to cross the main road up to the BSNL office where my husband’s friend had promised to activate my card. Both of us being journalists, we thought we could get it done amidst the stone pelting, but we were wrong.
As we reached the shop, girls in white uniforms had rushed out of a nearby higher secondary school. They picked up whatever they could lay their hands on and started hurling the projectiles at the police vans. They chased the vehicles, booed the policemen while raising ‘azadi’ (freedom) slogans. For the next two hours we had no choice but to take refuge inside a newspaper office next door.
By then, Srinagar’s commercial hub had come to a standstill. Eyewitnesses said they had seen nothing like this in the Valley in the last 25 years. For me, it was deja vu of a different kind.
In the early ‘90s when I was in school, Kashmir witnessed antiIndia protests for the first time. Our classroom was half-empty as most Pandit girls had left Kashmir. The boys from our school in Lal Chowk, which has a separate wing for girls, came running and asked us to join the protest. ‘Nara-e–Takbir, Allahu Akbar’ (God is the Greatest) slogans resonated in the air.
All of us left our classrooms and joined the crowd that was chanting ‘azadi’ slogans on the streets. As a teenager, the feeling was mixed. The anger against the state was at its peak as Kashmir had witnessed a series of civilian killings. No day would pass without newspapers publishing reports of deaths. We joined the chorus but the fear of consequences was palpable.
The moment the first teargas shell burst, the students moving with the crowd ran for cover. I remember entering a by-lane and knocking on the doors of locals. A middle-aged woman let us in and offered water. I was crying with fear. I wanted to reach home safely, vowing to never join a protest again. Once things calmed down, we made our way back to school to be picked up by our parents later.
On Monday, everything looked similar till the first teargas shell was lobbed. But unlike us in the ‘90s, these girls took on the forces. Instead of running, they picked up stones and targeted police. Every shell was countered with a scream for ‘azadi’.
This was unprecedented. Like their teenaged male counterparts, these girls seemed to not fear death. A few days ago, a photo of a burqa-clad college girl kicking a moving army vehicle went viral, making the young girls the `new face of protests’.
Last year’s images of teenagers with pellet injuries seems to have pushed this generation to the wall. And no one seems to be asking why young Kashmiris have lost the fear of ‘death’. They know a stone can get them a bullet but they are not running for cover.
Till this issue is addressed, heart-wrenching images will keep coming out from Kashmir.
Following an alleged attack on a nomadic family for smuggling bovines and the subsequent arrest and release of 11 accused on bail, Reasi district on Tuesday observed a complete shutdown in protest against “biased” police action.
On the call given by Akhil Bharati Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, transporters and trading organisations, Reasi observed a shutdown, said a local. Demanding a fair probe and revocation of the FIR against the 11 accused, protesters also burnt tyres on all connecting roads in the city and shouted slogans against police and civil administration, he added.
Adequate deployment of police and CRPF has been made in and around the town, and the army, which has a considerable presence, has been kept on standby. Raghav Kesar, state general secretary of ABVP, said, “We demand impartial investigations, which are possible only after the suspension of SSP Reasi (Tahir Sajjad Bhat) and deputy SP (Mujeeb-ur-Rehman). Police have implicated innocent persons in the FIR,” he alleged.
Kesar said that during a meeting of a delegation with Reasi deputy commissioner Ravinder Kumar on Tuesday, the latter agreed to a blanket ban on transportation of bovines in vehicles at night.
“The DC also agreed to constitute village-level committees to check bovine smuggling. But he has asked us to give him a memorandum seeking the revocation of FIR and suspension of SSP and Dy SP,” said Kesar.
Kumar said he has also made it mandatory to record entries of animals at various police check points on highways to keep a check on smuggling.
“As far as the revocation of FIR and suspension of officials are concerned, I have asked the delegation to give me a memorandum that will be submitted to the higher-ups for their consideration,” he said.