SRINAGAR : in buzz..

http://beta.in.news.yahoo.com/video/national-22564751/school-bus-torched-in-srinagar-to-enforce-shutdown-23330991.html

A video showing a school bus torched by a mob in Old City area of Srinagar on Saturday, 4 December, 2010, to enforce a shutdown called by hard-line Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani across the Kashmir valley.

Srinagar has been in news lately for all wrong reasons and the violence in the area has aggravated the condition of the civilians. As is evident from the incident of a school bus being torched down, educational sector is one of the worst-affected areas.

A close friend, Mohammad Saquib, a resident of Kashmir had a lot to say about the "desperate times" in the Kashmir valley. He says,

"To think what really cajoled the youth in Kashmir to pelt stones, knowing the nitty-gritty of its outcome, you could be booked under the draconian law PSA( public safety act) or put behind the bars on an imbecile traitor's nod. Then what brings them on streets and makes them go to such an extreme of stone-pelting? Their attires do not show signs of poverty. everything has a cause , and everything does not have an ostracized inception.

In the nascent vale of Kashmir, upheaval is old and grave. It is the aga-saga of any nation that aspires to be freed and given natural liberation, as bestowed by Almighty Allah. Whatever happened in the nineties showed the willingness  and need of Kashmir to oust its territory from the clutches of an illegitimate rule. However, by mere dint of force there was an achievement, the short lull made it possible for the movement to be passed on to the next generation.


Many analysts on Kashmir thought the silent period to be an acceptance to integrate with the state of India, but the Amarnath land issue provided the needed vent for the youth who had been waiting to erupt,like a dormant volcano. The new generation was harassed and even traumatized by the presence of security forces in almost all corners of the vale, alienated and deprived of the right to free expression. It was evident that uprise was inevitable, and when it erupted, a new history was written. From the alleys of downtown Srinagar. North Kashmir and old town Anantnag proved catalytic for the movement to grrow.  2010 uprising was spontaneous and of a paradigm shift to how seriously the new generation took to streets demanding their aspirations. Every new killing saw the number of protests increasing and protest took a new mode. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many other social networking sites became the medium for Kashmiri youth to express their anger and put forth their views to disseminate throughout the world. State took a new radical approach by arresting Facebook users  to curb the protests on net. Curfews and crackdown on the youth were devised to bolt and frustrate people so that willingness could be melted down. As hitherto, one should appreciate the resilience shown by the people in Kashmir. Atleast there is no tosy-turvy change in the people for the mundane gains, as the aftermath of 2008 movement had proved."


When Saquib messaged his article to me in answer to my questions on what he had to say about unrest in Kashmir vale, i told him that i will have to cut-short the article as it was exhaustive. But after re-reading his article, i could not find anything that could be left out of Saquib's voice. It is the voice of one among the youth who rise to revolt against the atrocities faced by their people. Is it not time that the nation joins these voices as a whole?