Teacher arrested for 'anti-India' exam questions

Srinagar, India -- Police in the Indian administered Kashmir arrested a teacher of a local college on charges of writing an exam "with anti-India content."

"We have arrested Noor Mohammad Bhat under (the ) Unlawful Activities Act," Srinagar district police chief, Ashiq Bukhari said.

He said the teacher who teaches English in a college here had written an exam for graduate level examinees with questions attempting "to glorify the Kashmiri stone pelters and to project separatist views."

Bhat had included a question, "Are the stone pelters real heroes? Discuss."

The content of the exam dealt with pro-independence unrest which has lasted more than five months. During the conflict young boys have resorted to pelting Indian security forces with stones ever since the unrest erupted on June 11 after a 17-year old boy was killed in a police action here in Srinigar, the region's capital.
The unrest which has so far claimed 110 lives. It has also left hundreds wounded, some of them left disabled.
The unrest has also seen the arrest of hundreds of youth charged with the offence of stone pelting while scores have gone underground to escape arrest.

Another question on the exam required translation of an Urdu passage into English.

"Kashmir is burning yet again. The blood of the youth is being shed like water. Even young boys are not being spared and are beaten to death by police and security forces. Bullets are being pumped into the chests of young girls and women. Though people across Kashmir are shedding tears of blood, yet the rulers are in deep slumber. Even prayers have turned ineffective," it read.

A student said he was taken aback on seeing the exam and hesitated for some time to answer the questions. "I was perplexed, but later I thought it may be a plan of the government to probe the mind of the young students on the unrest," said Mushtaq Ahmad.

"This is a new dimension added to the unrest after months of shutdowns and curfews," said Abdul Quyoom, a local resident.

The mountainous Kashmir region is divided among Pakistan, China and India. In the past, India has poured thousands of security forces into its part of Kashmir to fight what India called a Pakistan-inspired insurgency. However, since the defeat of the insurgency, Indian forces have found themselves fighting mostly Muslim Kashmiris who say they have suffered oppression and want independence from Hindu-dominated India.