Teenage girl freedom fighters in Kashmir

Girl students pelt stones at security personnel during clashes in Lal Chowk in Srinagar.(PTI) Apr 25 2017

The Hindustan Times, one of India’s largest English language newspapers, published an article titled “Barely out of teens, young girls are the new face of protests in Kashmir.”

In a tone of incredulity, they report that veiled teenage girls joined student protests not with polite chants of “azadi” but standing up against tear gas shelling & pellet guns along with teenage boys & chasing down armored vehicles with stones in their hands.

A police official in Kashmir described this development as “teenage aggression” but women have always been part of protest in Kashmir & have organized, led, participated in protests of their own, including as stone pelters. If we are to believe the police official, women in Kashmir never grow out of their teenage aggression. But where do they think the teens, male & female, learned how to throw?

These are teenage girl protesters in Lal Chowk who are part of student protests across Kashmir against the ever-escalating violence of the Indian occupying army.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.
Azadi!

(Photo from PTI/Hindustan Times)