Three days after Governor’s Rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, shocking facts started tumbling out of the closet as six youths from Uttar Pradesh, who had gone to Kashmir to eke out a living, claimed that they were made to pelt stones at security forces.
The youths – three each from Baghpat and Saharnpur – were working in Kashmir’s Pulwama as tailors and were promised Rs 20,000 but were later asked to do minial jobs like mopping and washing vehicles.
“During encounter of security forces with militants, the locals used to ask us to pelt stones at security forces. As we were taking shelter in houses of locals, we were forced to obey their orders,” the youths told the police.
DGP, OP Singh confirmed that the six youths have told the police that they were asked to pelt stones.
“Fed up with this, they returned home. We will deal with this issue very discreetly,” the DGP said adding that the youths claim that they were still getting threat calls from Kashmir and have sought police help. The UP ATS wouldprobe the matter,” Singh said.
SP of Baghpat, Jai Prakash said that a youth identified as Nasim told the police that he and some others were kept at a factory in Pulwama. “On one occasion, labourers present there participated in stone pelting. He was also asked to throw stones but he refused and escaped from the place”, he said.
Prakash, however said that the youth were changing their statements frequently. “Hence, we are corroborating the inputs. The police is on the lookout for the contractor who took the youths to Kashmir,” he said.
The families of the youth told the police that their children had gone to Kashmir for a contractual job at a stitching factory but they returned, complaining of being coerced into stone-pelting.
Kashmir Valley has seen a massive upsurge in stone-pelting over the last few years. Kashmiri youths were being radicalised by terror groups as well as separatists.
Intelligence reports and several probes have proven that money was being pumped into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan via separatists and its proxies, which was then being used to pay those pelting stones at security forces.