Shooting From the Lip

February 17 was the first Friday in many weeks when Kashmir’s Hurriyat separatists called for a shutdown. In a relative state of hibernation since the Durbar move (bi-annual relocation of the state government between Srinagar and Jammu) in October, after the violent summer of 2016, the Kashmir Valley may have just been primed for an even more frenzied 2017 by a comment from new army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat. The Friday prayers in Nowhata in downtown Srinagar and other parts of the Valley were followed by stone-pelting protests. Youngsters, some with faces masked, defied security personnel to open fire, daring the General to execute his threat.

- Asit Jolly

Two days earlier, angered by the death of four soldiers, including Rashtriya Rifles officer Maj. Satish Dahiya, Gen. Rawat had threatened reprisals after stone-throwing village youth tried to interfere during an encounter with armed militants. “People who have picked up arms… and they are the local boys, if they want to continue with the acts of terrorism— displaying flags of ISIS and Pakistan—we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them. They may survive today, but we will get them tomorrow,” he said after paying his respects to the fallen soldiers alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.