STONE IN ONE HAND, PHONE IN THE OTHER

SHAHID, 23, PROTESTER, ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Let’s call him Shahid. Stone pelters in the Valley idolise him. The softspoken man in his late 20s is known for his feistiness, and his dislike for the Indian military’s presence in Kashmir. In 2008, Shahid was at a protest site in Srinagar’s downtown area when gunfire hit a civilian. “As the CRPF men started hitting the wounded man with rifle butts, I filmed it on my phone,” he said. Since then, he has been taking turns to throw stones and record videos of the protests on his smartphone. “Once we are at the protest site, we do not know who among us will be filming it. There is no one person deputed for this. Any of us can do it,” he said, speaking of more than a dozen friends who routinely confront security personnel during clashes.

The group, comprising students, traders and labourers, is aware of the consequences of raising a mobile device amidst clashes and filming the action when CRPF men respond with pellet guns, tear gas and bullets. “I tell all my friends that if they have entered this field, they should be ready for anything, even death. We fear nothing because our intent is good. We are not going to live forever but once we are gone, the coming generations will see the events that we captured and continue the struggle,” said Shahid.

Although Shahid and his friends in downtown Srinagar have been documenting violence using mobile devices for almost a decade, he attributed the recent spurt in videos emanating from the Valley to slain militant commander Burhan Wani. “He was in the habit of regularly uploading footage on social media. There are videos of him playing cricket and singing for his mother. That content galvanised the youth here to become more active on social media than before,” said Shahid.

All the members in Shahid’s group are well versed with proxy servers that allow them to remain online when the government bans social media sites. “The government is doing its job. We will do ours,” said Shahid.

For Shahid and his friends, the internet shutdown in Srinagar is actually a victory of sorts. “We have bypassed the mainstream media, national and local. People internationally are questioning India. The government is aware of this. Hence the ban,” he said.

Mocking the government’s strategy of halting web services to check protests, Shahid said, “On the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promotes Digital India. On the other, he bans internet in Kashmir. This means that he doesn’t consider Kashmir as a part of India.”