Here’s a great way to earn a living if you’re a teenager looking forward to a dead end life in a place that should be a tourist haven but has been turned into a conflict zone with zero opportunities:
Kashmiri youth apparently can earn a living as professional stone pelters.
Isn’t that every parent’s dream?
What do you want your son to be when he grows up? Doctor, engineer, lawyer would be good, but if not, then heh, at least he can bring home the bananas as a stone pelter for hire.
Think of the doors this could open for him. After a few years of throwing stones at soldiers, police officers, jeeps, tanks etc, if he hasn’t been shot at, hit by a friendly fire stones himself, blown up or arrested, he could graduate to running a stone pelting cartel. Later, if he’s still alive and out of jail, he could become a middle man, or perhaps even enter that time honoured business for South Asians - import-export.
Kashmir could become the stone pelting export capital of the world because apparently Kashmiris have a long noble history with the art of stone throwing.
A visit to Kashmir twenty years ago made such an impression on me that in my heart, it will always be the Paradise Lost of my extensive travels in this big round world. Kashmiris, their land, their culture, their beautiful craftwork and overwhelming hospitality.
I don’t know which is more heartbreaking to think of after reading such stories: the helplessness of a people with no other recourse than throwing stones at a powerful enemy, or the fact that these pathetic mercernaries now reject the very loyalties that brought them onto the streets in the first place.
on Feb 11th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
it is your blog Dheera, so you have the freedom to express your thoughts but do not take that freedom too far to call India a powerful enemy of Kashmiris.Kashmir is an integral part of India and the secessionist movement is funded by Pakistan and supported by people in the West.Now I understand why, RNW always ‘forgets’ to put Jammu & Kashmir in the map of India. You conveniently forget that by saying thus you are hurting the sentiments of 400,000 Pandits who were forced to flee their homeland, and you are making a seditious statement. You are a Hindu from Pakistan, living in Holland, and in no way I find your views Indian.
on Feb 12th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
What Jasmin expressed is the thought of any patriotic Indian. And as a proud Indian myself I would agree with Jasmin’s comment to some extent. But what Dheera wrote might have been her feelings she had as an outsider visiting the place. I feel that Dheera did not really mean that she believed that Indians are the powerful enemy or Kashmiris. Instead we could understand that she might have tried to express the mind set of the stone pelters. We could take that it is the stone pelters’ view of India she tried to express and she even calls them pathetic mercenaries!! Why she might have called them mercenaries? I feel Dheera feels that these stone pelters are working for someone else and they are not Kashmiris. Indeed, Kashmir is a very sensitive matter for an Indian. So let us try to understand the view of a person who is looking at us from outside ! Let’s pray that all the stone that is pelted in anger and frustration to disappear in the serene calm waters of the Dal Lake of Love and send ripples of love and peace all around.
on Feb 14th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Thanks for your comments folks - always interested in seeing how people may percieve my stories. Only one thing - I was born in Bombay, so was my daughter. I have an enormous bond with India, with family and friends there. My family is from Pakistan not me. Whether you may find my views “Indian enough” or not, is besides the point, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m Indian in my soul
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 6:37 am
Nice to see the writer responding to us reader responses. It’s wonderful to know about Dheera’s bond with India too. It doesn’t matter whether she is Indian enough or whether she is Indian in her soul; She is another understanding, peaceful and warm hearted human being, that’s all that matters. We also understand that as a good human she is sensitive enough to the world around her, as we read her writings over here. Keep up your good work Dheera, we are enjoying your posts at South Asia Wired! Wish you peace and joy.
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 10:39 am
We here at RNW may not reply individually to every comment, but be assured we read them all. Bouquets or boulders, keep throwing them at us. We’re just happy you’re taking the time to not only read, but interact with us.
on Feb 22nd, 2010 at 5:40 am
Today (22nd Monday, 2010) as I glanced through the daily newspaper Mathrubhumi (Malayalam) this particular subject (Stone Pelters on hire in Jammu Kashmir) was dealt with in detail. I checked their website and read the news in Malayalam. Their English website do not seem to carry the news. I wonder, did they gather inspiration from Dheera’s writing! The news report says, that just like the Procession Workers in Kerala there is a section of workers in Jammu Kashmir who has taken to professional stone pelting. The report says that stone pelting is not only considered a job but it has become a business with a turnover in lakhs. Most of the unemployed youth take up stone pelting as a job and they get paid handsomely. The police have arrested some twelve people related to this business. The report says that there are photo ID registers of professional Stone Pelters maintained by the contractors of this work. Some organizations which need the service of these stone pelters spend five to eight lakhs on them. A new branch of this business is the stone pickers who pick stones and transport it to the spot where it is needed on time. Here is the Web-link to the Malayalam news on this subject: http://www.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=84860
on Feb 22nd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Thanks for the information Dev - you and Jasmin are RNW’s most devoted audience and we appreciate the response, the tips and even occasional criticisms. Just one thing - I’m afraid Malayalam is - well, Greek to me.
on Feb 27th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Thanks a lot Dheera for appreciating our responses..;)…
on Mar 13th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Indians have every right to be patriotic to their nation. But please don’t include Kashmir in it. Kashmir was never a part of India. You can’t enslave a nation merely because its erstwhile autocratic ruler who was one amongst a wafer thin minority, signed a piece of paper with a country of his riligous affinity, against the wishes of the majority who always wanted and still want a free nation of their own.
on Mar 18th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Ahadjoo, how shameless is your reaction about Kashmir. The majority you are talking about has been brought by converting Hindus into Muslims over the generations, and pushing the rest of the 400,000 Hindus out of the state, after terrorising them. When you do it, it is your right, and when Hindus raise alarm against Muslims in India, it becomes politically incorrect and a human rights issue in the world! Kashmir is a part of India and will remain so.
on Mar 19th, 2010 at 6:27 am
Ahadjoo, your view is shameless. Doubtlessly you seem to be expressing a view that is consistent with the teaching that happens in Pakistan. Pakistan doesnot possess moral right to occupy Kashmir because it cannot (practically) tolerate existance of non-Muslims and you push hundreds of thousands of Hindus out of Kashmir by terrorizing (as said by jasmin). If you say the Kasmiri people were against its integration with India (which I do not believe at all), then Pakistan must give up Balochistan because Balochi people were against integration with Pakistan (they are still fighting against it). They still consider themselves a colony of Pakistan.