A Time To Lead

But the politicians are missing in action.

- Namrata Biji Ahuja

Young men carry AK-47s to the funerals of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists and give rifle salutes. On other days, they pelt stones at security forces.

The word sang in Kashmiri means stone. The streets in the valley are scattered with stones. This is where the sangbaaz (stone pelters) spend day and night venting their anger and frustration. With or without their knowledge, they are being funded and used by inimical forces in Pakistan.

On April 9, a man was tied to an Army jeep and driven to a polling booth in Budgam to rescue policemen and ITBP troops, who were trapped inside, from a mob of stone pelters waiting outside. Another video surfaced soon after, showing Kashmiri youth beating up armed CRPF troops. No shots were fired in either case. Looking at these videos,one cannot help but wonder where the political leadership of J&K is.

“Today, the forces have become toothless and an object of humiliation. The government needs to find a political solution to the problem. It cannot put the forces in jeopardy. Policing, by nature, is a repressive act. I am not saying whether the action of the Army was right or wrong, but I feel the government needs to do its job first,” former CRPF director general Dilip Trivedi told THE WEEK.

The coalition of the Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP came to power in the state in early 2015. Sadly, many months have passed since elected representatives either from the Centre or from the state government were seen on these streets, where stones have been flying; striking everyone, but them.

Those driving the Kashmir policy from New Delhi are missing in action. Prime Minister Narendra Modi,who inaugurated the tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on April 2, addressed a public rally ahead of the byelections in an attempt to reach out to the people. But it was too little, too late