‘While our rebels pose little threat to India in strategic terms (something that we need to deliberate over), it is their existence that constantly reminds the State of the fact that its military might shall not cow us into submission. The masses love these young boys because they embody selflessness and resistance. I have seen mothers adoring them more than their own children. The State may invest all its energy into dehumanizing them, but let it be known that these young boys are not strangers. They are from us and we are from them.’
–Ahmed Bin Qasim