1st in Kashmir: People protest stone throwers

Often a witness to bloody confrontations, a protest march against stone-pelting and terrorism was no less than a breath of fresh air in the strife-torn Kashmir Valley.

The rally led by the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Forum (JKAF) started from Kani-e-Dajan, a remote village, and culminated near Charar-e-Sharif in Budgam district on Saturday.

Nearly 1,500 member of the civil society group waged the historic walk and spoke against Pakistan-sponsored terror and separatism. The also demanded 'azaadi' from stone-pelting and a blanket ban on the sale and consumption of liquor.

JKAF chairman Farooq Ahmad Ganai said the march was the first-of-its-kind and an attempt to "wake up" the masses. "We want an end to the gun culture."

Jammu and Kashmir Awami Forum was the part of larger group of Kashmiri people who had invited Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shanker to address Paigam-e-Mohabbat in Srinagar in March this year. Around 12000 people from all walks of life of civil society across valley including women in huge numbers had participated in Paigam-e-Mohabbat conclave.

"The forum demands an end to terror from our society and a blanket ban on alcohol, which is against the religious sentiments of the Muslim population and which has seriously hurt them", he said

Art of Living founder too took to twitter to inform about the march in central Kashmir. "Over a 1,000 members of Jammu & Kashmir's civil society came together for a peace march to promote harmony & religious tolerance, to speak out against terrorism, stone pelting & the sale and consumption of liquor", tweeted Sri Sri Ravi Shanker.

 dnaindia