Protesters in Kashmir valley have taken recourse to Facebook to voice their dissent after SMSes were banned in the valley by the state administration, reports Mid DaY.
The protesters have now flocked to the social networking site to voice their dissent after the government banned the messaging service, thinking it will cut communication among the agitators. However, the state police are too busy to ignore the virtual world of networking.
Kaushur Haatyar Kann'e Jung (stone pelting), a community on Facebook, is bringing together young Kashmiris for whom stone-pelting has become a way of expressing their anger at the escalating situation in the Valley as well as targeting the security forces.
The community apart from highlighting the anti-India agenda claims to have offices in Nowhatta, Maisuma, Sopore and Islamabad. It also identifies Jammu and Kashmir as "occupied Kashmir" like the various jihadi and Pakistani websites.
Official sources in the Kashmir police admitted that whatever success they had by banning the SMSes, Facebook has nullified it.
Goes a post on the community: "Kasheer Koshur: Kani jang is not a new experience for Kashmir and its people. For more than six decades, stone-pelting had been the ultimate weapon of Kashmiri anger at any point of conflict arising out of intimidation. In real sense resorting to stone throwing as a weapon for defence and defiance is manifestation of volcanic eruptions of extreme dissent. ..."
The Inspector of Police, Kashmir zone, Farooq Ahmad said the state police are under extreme duress, especially ever since the recent spate of violence has erupted in the Valley. "We don't have time for such things," Ahmad told MidDay when asked whether the state police has any mechanism in place to monitor the activities of the stone-pelters in the virtual world.
Jammu and Kashmir Home Secretary Samuel Verghese said, "I don't talk to mediapersons, I don't know."
In the recent months, stone-pelters have emerged as a major headache for the security forces in Kashmir, particularly the Central Reserve Police Force. The protests assumed alarming proportions after two youth were killed during firing by the CRPF personnel while controlling a protest in Baramulla.
Top security expert and former director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Ajit Doval said the police could actually rein-in these elements, which have turned stones into a potential danger to the gun-wielding security forces, if they would monitor their activities on the Facebook.
"Since SMSes have been banned in the Valley, social networking sites have emerged as a major communication tools for stone-pelters."
"Contrary to the government's perception that the ring leaders, who manage the stone-pelting protests, are technologically challenged, these people are tech-savvy and know too well to exploit such resources to their benefit. Once the ring leaders are identified, it would become easier to limit their activity to Facebook only," Doval told MidDay.
"I understand the meaning of peaceful protests. And I believe that protesting peacefully is the best (way) of making your point in this democratic age. But the unfortunate story of Kashmir is that we are never given a chance to demonstrate peacefully. Considering all this, I give vent to my anger by pelting stones. So, I do it on the streets and on the Internet as well through Kann'e Jung," Iqbal Ahmad, a member of the community told MidDay over phone from Kashmir.
"I do not do it for fun, and I hate those people who do it for mischief. Our struggle is not for fun. For me stone-pelting is an ideology. It is a fight against forgetfulness (of the authorities towards the plight of the Kashmiri people)," another stone-pelter said, wishing anonymity.
