Once known the world over for its pristine beauty, the Valley of Kashmir is soiled red by the bloodiest and probably the biggest, current military operation in the world. By one estimate, more than 80,000 people have died in the anti-state insurgency in Kashmir since its outbreak. Arrests are an everyday happening and so are curfews, raids and checkpoint humiliations enforced by nearly 700,000 Indian soldiers. The people in the Valley are exposed for long years to extra-judicial execution, rapes and torture. Right since the armed local resistance began in IHK, India has been continually holding Pakistan responsible for the uprising. It has always portrayed the freedom struggle as a terrorist movement aided entirely by Pakistan. And these allegations are given credence only because a few thousand Kashmiri mujahideen have kept over 700,000 regular and paramilitary forces engaged in Kashmir for so long and have made it a bleeding wound for India. In this phase of Kashmiri struggle, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators are now filling the streets of Kashmiri cities every day. Mostly young, an overwhelming majority in their teens, they are holding the Indian security apparatus at bay with nothing more lethal than stones in their hands. Quite ironic, then, that India has sought assistance from none other than Israel for dealing with these little boys playing 'freedom. New Delhi might have learnt new methods of torture but that has had no effect and the teenagers sport of freedom has spread all across Kashmir since last June. The outcry is growing louder with each passing day. According to media, 59 Kashmiris, mostly teenagers including an eight-year old boy, have been killed until August 14 by the CRPF and Police. But each killing has fueled the spirit ever more with ever greater numbers coming out in streets. They have everything to play for. -HAFIZ MANSOOR JAGIOT, Islamabad, September 10.