Government forms team of experts to explore alternatives to pellet guns
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: An expert team, headed by a Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, was on Tuesday constituted to explore possible alternatives to pellet guns, amidst strong criticism against their frequent use in Jammu and Kashmir for crowd control.
Besides Home Ministry Joint Secretary TVSN Prasad, who will head the team, other members of the expert committee are Atul Karwal, IG, CRPF, Srinagar, Rajeev Krishna, IG, BSF, Rajesh Kumar of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Tushar Tripathy of Indian Ordnance Factory Board, Manjit Singh of Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, Chandigarh and Naresh Bhatnagar of IIT, Delhi.
Many youths have been injured in the last fortnight when Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel used pellet guns to control violent protesters.
The paramilitary force has received widespread criticism for the use of this category of nonlethal weapon, prompting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to announce in Parliament that a committee will be set up to review use of pellet guns and find an alternative to it.
A Home Ministry spokesperson said the expert committee will submit its report within two months.
The home minister had said one person died due to injuries caused by pellet guns while 53 suffered injuries in eyes.
The Central government had also sent a team of doctors to Kashmir Valley to treat youths injured due to firing by pellet guns.
Director General of Central Reserve Police Force K Durga Prasd on Monday expressed regret for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Kashmir Valley and said it would continue to use this “least-lethal” weapon but only in “extreme” situations.
“Everybody feel bad when youngsters get hit. But still, we will have to use it (pellet guns) in extreme situation as of now. We hope that any (extreme) situation does not arise (in future),” the CRPF chief said, ahead of the force’s 77th raising day on Wednesday.
Prasad said the CRPF is already experimenting with the other options under the less-lethal weapon category available globally.
Meanwhile, curfew was lifted from most parts of the tense Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, bringing much-needed respite to people 17 long days after it was imposed amid the worst unrest in years.
But fresh protests erupted in parts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and in south Kashmir despite continued restrictions on public gatherings.
Barring a few volatile places in south Kashmir, curfew was lifted from almost all over the valley, a police spokesman said.
However, restrictions on the assembly of four or more people continued in a bid to maintain law and order, the spokesman said.
Protests broke out in Malaknag area in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district in which six persons, including a woman, received pellet injuries in firing by security forces.
The curfew is likely to be imposed again on Wednesday amid fears of violence as separatists have called for a protest march to south Kashmir’s Kulgam district -- one of the worst hit areas in the current turmoil -- where they plan to address a public rally.
In Srinagar, as soon as the curfew was eased, people took to the streets shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans.
Incidents of stone-pelting protests also erupted at some places, including near the city centre Lal Chowk.
In some areas of old Srinagar, the protesters offered mid-day prayers on the roadside and pavements to defy restrictions on public gatherings. Police were deployed in large numbers.