It is no secret that Pakistan and its wing Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been sponsoring terrorists and stone pelters in the Kashmir valley. There are fixed rate charts for the stone pelters which are set by their leaders, a full grown adult can easily earn approximately Rs 20,000 a month while a child can manage anything between Rs 5,000-8,000 a month depending on his physique and participation. The stone pelters had recently resorted to targeting even school children by attacking buses with children in them. Tourists too had become the target of the violent mobs which usually had tried to intimidate government security forces and other common people from the valley. The Jammu and Kashmir Police were looking for ways to nab the masterminds behind these planned attacks. A plan had to be formulated and it was executed with perfection last Friday in Srinagar.
The fresh strategy by the Jammu and Kashmir Police included sending its own men into the crowd of stone pelters, with the intention to hurl stones at the police. The policemen dressed in civilian clothes were planted amidst the frenzied crowd while the police and CRPF personnel waited in anticipation. The crowd which came out of the Srinagar mosque after the Friday prayers started pelting stones at the Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF personnel. The security forces however did not reply at all, no baton charge or firing of teargas shells to disperse the mob was done; the crowd soon started numbering over a 100 people. The stone hurling mob was led by two chronic stone pelters from the Kashmir valley, who were nabbed by the policemen placed amidst the crowd and were swiftly moved away to police vehicles which stood waiting for the leaders of the mob.
The police personnel placed amidst the crowd also carried toy guns to intimidate the leaders of the stone pelting mobs which they had nabbed. It was important for them to wield weapons so as to stop the nabbed stone pelters and the crowd from creating a ruckus post the arrest of their leaders. Surprised by this development the mob ended their protests swiftly; the frenzied mob was nowhere to be found a few minutes after the police personnel nabbed the two leaders. This is not exactly a new strategy but it had been used earlier in 2010 too when the police had identified and arrested scores of stone pelters in the valley. Bringing back this technique in the valley means there will be another sense of fear in the minds of the vicious elements residing in Kashmir.
The situation in the valley had deteriorated significantly after the stone pelters had caused the death of a tourist and had caused grievous injuries even to school children. The Jammu and Kashmir government under Mehbooba Mufti and even the central government had in the past withdrawn cases registered against upwards of 10,000 youths from the valley who had been termed as first time offenders. The strategy applied by the Jammu and Kashmir Police is commendable since it will lay bare the fact that these salaried employees of Pakistan and ISI are nothing but terrorists in the making. The nabbing of leaders will not only help the security personnel in tracking down the exact people who channel and distribute funds for this grave act but will also help in pinpointing exactly the other people involved. The leaders who are caught in the act also cannot cite non-involvement in stone pelting as a defence when they are produced in courts before the judge. Kudos to Jammu and Kashmir police for this strategy in ridding Kashmir of stone pelters.