JK PANORAMA DECEMBER 2017

JK Panorama
AMNESTY TO STONE-PELTERS EVOKES POSITIVE RESPONSE AMONG YOUTH
he amnesty to first-time booked stone pelters
by withdrawing First Time Reports (FIRs)
has evoked a positive response from the Tyouth who from several years had to present
themselves before court after short spans of time.
Though Mehbooba Mufti herself is not the architect
of the verdict of amnesty this decision has been
implicit in creating a positive change among the
youth towards the state's first lady Chief Minister
who remained center for opprobrium ever since she
took command of the 'unholy' alliance.
The Mehbooba Mufti led government's initiative to
drop charges against an estimated 4,500 people,
mostly youth involved in stone-pelting incidents
based on recommendations by the Centre's
interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma has evoked a
positive response from different sections of society.
The announcement has brought a sigh of relief to the
thousands of families whose children had to face
immense difficulties related to education, job
opportunity and travel documents due to the FIRs
against them. The relief is not limited to the youth
and their families only but also to those alleged
stone pelters who are based outside Kashmir and
were compelled to present themselves before the
court of law.
One stone pelter said, “the decision to withdraw
cases against youth has changed my perspective, I
was falsely booked during 2010 agitation, but since
then almost from past seven years I had to appear
before court periodically after three months.” He
further stated “being a businessman I have no
dealings with court, but the factual reality is that I
visited all the three complexes of court that were
shifted from time to time to different vicinities in the
past seven years.”
Another youth pleading anonymity recounted his
ordeal with our correspondent, he said “I had
qualified interview for a Multi-National Company
(MNC) and was supposed to be posted at Dubai, but
due to the FIR against me, I was not able to obtain
my passport which resulted in mental and
psychological trauma, but now this announcement
has evoked my expectations and I hope it won't be
limited to announcement only but will have
practical implications on ground for my better
future.”
Pertinently, in 2011, the then Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah also announced an amnesty for
nearly 1,200 young men. However, in today's case,
he credited central government in ordering the
withdrawal of cases. “Dineshwar Sharma & Home
03 08
December 2017