Back to Stone age

Photo by Fayaz Kabli/Reuters

Kashmir is again in news. Sadly for all the wrong reasons.
Civilians got killed in a clash. Army has been brought in to control the situation. Curfews in place.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the violence it started off with the death of a 13 yr old kid. The post mortem indicated that the kid died of a tear gas,used by the armed forces. Angry civilians reacted strongly. The streets turned into battlefields.
A battle between the men with Guns and the unarmed. David and Goliath?   Not exactly.
The unarmed were not actually unarmed.  They dint have weapons of mass destruction. Not any kind of sophisticated weapons. But they are armed with weapons of the stone age. Stones. Yes, just stones.

The gunmen seemed to have no experience in tackling this weapon. How would they? They never worked in Israel, facing the Palestine stones. Probably it was their first experience.

Stones are very powerful weapons. it’s impact is very underestimated.

• They are free of cost. If you can’t find it nearby, just dig up the road. You find plenty of them.
• Bullets generally are for a set target. But stones can hit multiple targets and the direction is unpredictable. They can bounce on the wall and strike you back.
• Stones can pierce the bullet proof glass. Surprised? Yes, the sheer weight and the velocity of the thrown stone can break the glass. Even the mesh that protects the police\CRPF vehicles are broken by stones.
• Vehicular movements are impaired. There are tons of stones lying around on the roads and the vehicles can’t speed through them. So the armed can’t enter or escape the area in vehicles. It’s like a blockade.
• Stones mostly injure a person and very rarely kill a person. This is a double whammy for the stone throwers. First, they can’t be charged for murder. Secondly, one injury means a couple of more armed men(injured + helper) out of battlefield. 

Now we know why our ancestors used stones as weapons.
Whatever it is…I hope that peace returns to this beautiful valley called Kashmir.