Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh backed a young Kashmiri NCC cadet who was trolled online
A 20-year-old college student from south Kashmir
trolled for urging youth to stop throwing stones received support from
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Wednesday. Mr Singh said she had spoken her mind and she had the right to express her views.
One of the 500 cadets of the National Cadet Corps, or NCC, undergoing training at a camp in Nagrota on the outskirts of Jammu city, Aneesa is the second woman to be targeted online in Jammu and Kashmir this year.
In January, it was Kashmiri teenager Zaira Wasim, whose performance as young Geeta Phogat in 'Dangal' movie earned her plaudits. She was forced to apologise after her pictures with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti went viral on social media.
Aneesa has stood her ground, so far.
"Please don't indulge in bad things like protests, stone pelting or sloganeering for
azadi (Freedom).
Azadi is nothing. If you want
azadi, it is here (apparently in events organised by NCC)," Aneesa said.
"I am enjoying here a lot. I want to suggest all the girls to come forward. If you want life, it is here. It is Indian army that is going to bring you life," she said in a video that went viral on Facebook. She was promptly trolled online and became a target of vicious attacks on social media.
Mr Singh said Aneesa, a cadet of the first JK Battalion Srinagar and a student of government women's degree college in Anantnag, had spoken her mind to echo the sentiment of the Kashmiri youth who want to live in peace.
"She has the right to speak her mind. It is the actual feeling of young minds of Jammu and Kashmir, especially of Kashmir, because she is representing the people," he said.