Shopian school bus pelted: Outrage serves little purpose, addressing radicalisation in Valley need of hour

In a dastardly act this morning, stone-pelters attacked a school bus of Rainbow International School carrying 50 school children near Shopian in south Kashmir. Visuals on TV channels showed shards of windowpanes scattered on the road. Rehan, a student of class 2 suffered serious head injury. In addition, two more students also suffered injuries. As per one report, it wasn’t clear whether the school bus was the target of the stone throwers or it was caught in clashes. But then caught in clashes between whom? The stone-pelting started in broad daylight at 9.25 AM in the morning, not at night when the miscreants could have mistaken the school bus for a tourist bus or local passenger bus. Obviously, the school bus was very much the target. [caption id=“attachment_4454323” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] An injured student being taken for treatment after stone pelters attacked a school bus in Shopian district of South Kashmir. PTI[/caption] Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “Shocked and angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless and cowardly act will be brought to justice.” “My son has been injured in stone pelting, this is against humanity. This could have been anyone’s child,” said the father of Rehan who suffered serious head injury. According to the police, “The area has been sanitised, search for stone-pelters is underway and they will be arrested soon.” Obviously, amid widespread political condemnation, some arrests will definitely be made, but the question is what happens beyond that? The Kashmir Valley, and south Kashmir, in particular have plunged into the throes of radicalisation. Hurriyat hardliners, assisted by hardline-clerics who have systemically replaced the Sufi clerics of yore, have been radicalising the Kashmiri youth over the years on behest of Pakistan’s ISI. The two mainstream political parties have played ball because the terrorism industry brings riches and helps gain power in the Valley. Omar Abdullah, leader of National Conference tweeted, “How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters?” Well these stone-pelters don’t have any agenda, but are working on behest of their masters: those who pay them daily wages, and those who are providing the ideological catalyst. Omar Abdullah also tweeted, “The amnesty granted to stone-pelters was meant to encourage more reasonable behaviour but some of these goons are determined to use the opportunity given to them to just pelt more stones.” But hasn’t this business of amnesty become a periodic occurrence, at times synchronised with clinical precision to violent terrorist incidents. Take the amnesty granted to hundreds of stone-pelters just three days before killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016. The Valley burnt for months at stretch after the encounter. Similarly, amnesty granted to thousands of stone-pelters resulted in the incident at Shopian in January 2017, when a 250-strong mob of stone-pelters attacked an army convoy, tried to lynch a Junior Commissioned Office (JCO) and snatched his service weapon. The mob also burnt and damages 11 army vehicles, forcing the soldiers to open fire in self-defence. Stone-pelting incidents are on the rise in Jammu and Kashmir. Tourists buses and cabs have been stone-pelted at Awantipora and at Dal Lake in Srinagar. In April this year, two CRPF personnel were killed and three injured in stone-pelting in Srinagar proper. This is because we lack the courage to deal with stone-pelters the way rest of the world does. The chief minister would keep calling for Centre to engage with the youth, but she would not explain to them what her employment generation plan is — if one has been evolved at all. The furor over the school bus stone-pelting will die down with other incidents overtaking news channels. The stone-pelters arrested will enjoy the hospitality of the police till granted amnesty. And the cycle of violence will keep repeating itself, looking at the ground realities. The author is a retired lieutenant-general of the Indian Army