Chief Minster Omar Abdullah on March 2, 2010, described 2009 as the "most peaceful year" over 20 years of turmoil in the state. While trends in terrorist incidents and fatalities continue to decline, the spurt in street violence over the past nearly two-and-a-half months has created a new spectre of widening disruption in several parts of the Valley. Political temperatures and administrative concerns have spiralled with the disorders, though the situation is far from being nearly as desperate as is sometimes painted to be. Contrary to popular perceptions, coloured by hysterical media reportage, only small parts of the Valley – itself a fraction of the state – have been engulfed by violence, much of which is meticulously stage-managed.
As many 60 protesters have been killed by the security forces (SFs) in 72-days of street violence since June 11, 2010. If these killings are mapped across the Kashmir Valley, it is seen that, deaths have been reported from seven out of 10 districts, and four – Baramulla (17 killed), Srinagar (15), Anantnag (11) and Pulwama (11) - have reported fatalities in double digits. The other districts from where deaths have been reported include Kulgam (3), Kupwara (2) and Bandipora (1). More importantly, Shopian, Ganderbal and Budgam districts recorded no deaths, though there were reports of sporadic violence in these areas as well. A total of 872 stone-pelting incidents have been recorded in June and July and 1,266 SF personnel have been injured in these two months alone.
Nevertheless, the widespread impression that the present disturbances represent a popular uprising, or that ‘things are worse than they were in the early 1990s’ is utterly misconceived. The troubles have largely been orchestrated within a minuscule segment of the population, in small areas of the Valley, and the disruption caused is principally a measure of the incompetence of administrative response, rather than of any irresistible upsurge of popular sentiment. The timetables of the stone pelting campaigns have been defined by separatists, in the main led by the Hurriyat Conference – Geelani (G) chairman Syed Ahmed Shah Geelani, backed by Pakistan and its proxy militant groupings in Kashmir. Intelligence available on the profiles of protesters suggests that they include a large number of ‘seasoned campaigners’, provocateurs who have taken up stone pelting as a lucrative business. In an interview in April 2010, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah thus stated, "The industry of stone pelting is very much in our radar. We have in fact been able to identify to a couple of big business houses, one in particular who has used to his network of dealers to route the money through."
The present cycle of violence escalated with the killing of Tufail Ahmad Mattoo in Police firing in Srinagar’s Rajouri Kadal area on June 11. This followed violent street protests in Srinagar and adjoining areas. The street violence gained tempo followed the killing of Javed Ahmad Malla on June 20. Thereafter, a self-perpetuating cycle of street violence, followed by Police firing, has kept things on a boil. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) on August 4,