Kashmir's New Face Of Protests: Teen Schoolgirls On The Streets

Story Highlights

• For the first time, schoolgirls came on Srinagar streets to protest
• Crackdown on students in Pulwama earlier this month triggered the protest
• Ruling PDP and BJP alliance worried about trend, have appealed for calm

Srinagar: The girls are back to school. But during the past week, a gender barrier was broken in Kashmir valley. No one is celebrating it though. For the first time, scores of schoolgirls in their school uniforms came on Srinagar streets to protest. When the police tried to disperse them, some of them picked up a stone too.

It was a defining image of the turmoil in the state; a rare and disturbing sight.

The trigger, the students say, was the crackdown earlier this month on students by security forces in a college in Pulwama, some 30 km away. Video clips that showed students being beaten went viral on social media, after which security forces drew criticism. Over 50 students were injured after they protested against a temporary check-post set up outside the college by the security forces.

The school girls say stone pelting that they participated in was a response to this police action.

But the anger, Class 12 student Barjees suggests, is deep-rooted and dates back to the time when she wasn't even born.  But she has heard many stories, one of them about the Kunan Poshpora rapes in 1991.

"I remember every incident... Yes, we are meant to be in front of blackboard with teachers, not armed men... No one is safe," says an agitated Barjees.

Source: NDTV