Salary hike: This is what a stone pelter earns in the Valley

Each separatist had a set of stone pelters. They would coordinate among each other and decide on where to fuel the violence.

Rs 300 crore by any standards is not a small amount. This was the amount that was pumped into the Valley every month to fuel the unrest. The money flow increased considerably after July 2016 and there was a sustained effort on part of the separatists, terrorists and Pakistan to make the situation as bad as possible in Jammu and Kashmir.

A stone pelter who would be paid Rs 200 in 2010 began drawing anything between Rs 1,000 and 2,000. The stone pelter was in demand. For a protest he or she would draw Rs 1,000. However when they were deployed to disturb the Indian Army engaged in an encounter, every stone pelter would charge Rs 2,000.

These details have been unearthed by the National Investigation Agency which si probing the Hurriyat terror funding case. The NIA has also identified 100 dedicated stone pelters. These persons were found in almost every incident of stone pelting.

Each separatist had a set of stone pelters. They would coordinate among each other and decide on where to fuel the violence. Stone pelters with more experience were deployed in areas of operations being carried out by the Indian Army. Their specific brief was to distract the Army and ensure that the terrorist involved in the operation manages to escape. Stone pelters were also classified into two categories. The top category stone pelter would be involved in operational areas while the other would be deployed for street protests, investigations have also revealed.

OneIndia News