It's evening and a convoy of three CRPF armoured vans winds slowly down the deserted Eidgah road in old Srinagar. The troopers are returning to their headquarter after a harrowing, 10-hour workday spent battling stone-pelting mobs across the city.

Inside the vans, a group of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, armed with lathis and guns, sit alert, their eyes trained on the many narrow lanes and bylanes that branch out of the road. At any moment, they know, groups of men armed with stones or petrol bombs can stream out, intent on wreaking maximum damage at a time the troops are most tired and vulnerable. They also know how difficult it is to fight stone-pelters in this part of downtown Srinagar, a veritable maze, criss-crossed by narrow lanes.

It is these CRPF troopers, together with the state police, who have been at the forefront of the pitched street battles in Kashmir Valley following the killing of Burhan Wani, a prominent face of the Hizbul Mujahideen, on July 8.

The protests since have claimed the lives of more than 44 citizens and left 2,115 injured.

As tension simmers and Kashmir once again occupies centre stage, among those heading back after facing the angry crowds is Constable AK Pandey, a native of Chapra in Bihar. Pandey has been in the Valley since 2011 and has had several run-ins with stone-pelters in the past five years. He was hit on the nose and face a few days ago when a mob attacked the Saidapora post on Eidgah-Soura Road, which he was manning with stones.

Though his face is still swollen, he's back at work at the same post, wearing his helmet and protective gear — a bulletproof vest, arm and leg guards and fibreglass shields. Some troopers, even now, are armed with flimsier cane shields.

Despite the gear, the mobs are a daunting sight, says Pandey. Often, they wait in groups at the end of a lane for the convoy to pass, he says. Many are just boys, some as young as 10, armed with sticks. When the vans pass, some run out, wielding sticks haphazardly, aiming for the windshield or the narrow wire-mesh covered windows. As the vans slow to a stop, intrepid youngsters kick the sides, pushing the vehicle with their hands. The jawans fire in the air to disperse them, but the mobs don't give an inch. As the jawans troop out, more and more boys pour out of the lanes until here's a large menacing crowd, the nearest just a few feet away from the men in fatigues.

Often, the jawans say, they are forced into a defensive position and give up the chase — they know that while the locals know the labyrinthine neighbourhood like the backs of their hand, they don't, and can end up being lynched.

Asked whether he'd ever been provoked by the needling mobs to fire, Pandey avoids answering. It is a sensitive question given the raging controversy over the use of pellet guns — introduced as a non-lethal alternative after 120 civilians were killed in the 2010 riots. "We do what we do to protect ourselves. We know they are being misused and paid money to do this," he says.

Many troopers betray a sneaking sympathy for the stone-pelting youngsters, especially the very young. "We feel for them. They are small boys. They should be concentrating on their education. Unfortunately, they are misguided," says Head Constable VS Gujar, another combat veteran of street battles in downtown Srinagar. He has been in the Valley for three years.

While the troops don't speak or interact with the stone-pelters, many say that the youngsters travel to areas away from where they live to pelt stones.

Compounding the problem, militants have now begun masquerading as protestors to attack the CRPF with grenades and guns, hoping to provoke a retaliation that leads to civilian casualties. Uttam Chand, deputy inspector general of police, north Kashmir range, confirms this, saying: "On one side there was stone pelting and, on the other, there were militants who attacked our post at Warpora Sopore a few days ago. Since there has been no casualty in north Kashmir, the militants wanted to provoke civilian casualty."

No magic wand

The CRPF has for long worked with the local police to maintain law and order and in counter-insurgency operations. In times of crisis like the present one, the Centre sends additional battalions for reinforcements.

There are about 40,000 CRPF jawans from 47 battalions deployed in 10 districts of the state affected by the violence (each battalion comprises between 700-1,000 jawans). Of these, 25 battalions are posted in Srinagar alone. Apart from the CRPF, there are paramilitary forces, such as the Border Security Force (BSF), posted in the Valley. And while the paramilitary forces haven't reported any deaths, as many as 1,671 men have been injured.

It's dangerous work as the jawans are chased by the mobs and if caught, are beaten up. One police officer recuperating in an army hospital, recounts how he jumped from a two-storeyed building and fractured both his legs.

"A mob was chasing me and I had two options — open fire or run. I saw no option but to jump as it was too dangerous to fire."

Brig. Narendra Kumar, a senior fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, and one who has many years of experience in counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir and the northeast, sees the present situation as a fallout of the breakdown in public discourse. "When political leadership found it difficult to manage the turmoil, security forces were asked to wash the dirty linen with a magic wand. Such a strategy is bound to fail and is failing now.

What next?" he writes in an article posted on the Centre's website.

Family calls

What makes troopers especially anxious at the moment is the suspension of mobile telephony since July 10 in the Valley. Most CRPF men have not spoken to their families for days because only BSNL phones work in the Valley. The anxiety back home is rising, says Pandey. "I have parents at home. My wife is also there. They are stressed." Adds his colleague: "My family knows that I am posted in Srinagar. But they do not know what the old city is and what the stone pelting hub is. They must be very worried."

Those with BSNL phones too are not much better off. "Although I have a BSNL phone, I do not get time to talk to my family back home. I have not spoken to my family for 10 days due to long duty hours," says a senior CRPF officer, requesting anonymity. While their duty hours are from 8am to 6pm, the men often find themselves back on the streets because protests intensify after they withdraw.

In some cases, a few companies of the CRPF have arranged for phones so that the jawans can talk to their families or have arranged for their headquarters to communicate to their families that they are safe. The only oasis of peace and safety for the troops are the fortified camps they live in. Here, they have access to satellite TV, gyms and other recreational facilities. "It (the unit) is a mini India for us. We are like a family in our camp. After duty we forget everything. We watch television, joke with each other and sometimes spend time in gym. It is fun. On the following day, we are raring to get back to duty," says Manoj, a constable from Haryana.