The disturbing image of menacing youth armed with sticks and raining blows on a trapped policeman near Srinagar on Monday presents a more complicated picture than the state government or the opposition parties in the troubled valley would have us believe. Of course, the politicians in the state would now say that the Kashmiri youth were provoked into retaliation by the brutality of the paramilitary forces which have killed eight civilians over the past fortnight. But this image, incidentally by no means the first of its kind to emerge from the valley, suggests that there may be some merit in the claim of the Central Reserve Police Force (Central Reserve Police Force), which has maintained that the civilians routinely challenge the security forces by pelting stones and bricks. On Monday, too, the list of the injured policemen included a senior superintendent of police.

The question, therefore, arises whether the CRPF isn't more sinned against than sinning in Kashmir.