Pellet guns will be used till violence is contained

Security forces in the Kashmir valley will continue to use pellet guns till the ongoing spate of violence is contained fully. Top government sources told this newspaper that any possibility of immediately stopping the use of pellet guns is completely ruled out and this can be considered only after complete peace is restored in the Valley.

Only when normalcy returns to the Valley will the security forces start scouting globally for non-lethal options to the pellet guns. The home minister, Rajnath Singh, had constituted an expert committee to assess the impact of pellet guns and explore other options following outrage over the use of pellet guns by security forces in the Valley which left more than 100 demonstrators with severe eye injuries.

Sources in the security establishment have categorically ruled out any possibility of banning pellet guns in the prevailing security situation in Kashmir though fresh instructions have been issued to the forces. They have been advised to use the weapon with greater caution.

“The security forces have been directed to fire pellet guns at a mob from a greater distance than what they were doing earlier. If you fire a pellet gun from close range at a mob, the disbursement of pellets — which are basically small iron balls — is in a wider area which covers body parts above the waist also. This is what caused most of the eye injuries to the stone pelting mob. Now we have asked the forces to fire from a greater distance to minimise the damage,” a senior security official said.

The CRPF in an affidavit to the J&K high court on Thursday had stated that the only option for them in the Valley is either firing or using the pellet gun.

“Our stand is very clear unless the court gives some other directions. We will continue to use the pellet gun to control the mob and will look for alternatives once peace is restored. In case some other order is passed by the high court, then we will take a call on it accordingly,” the official explained.

The security forces had started exploring options for a non-lethal weapon after the 2010 agitation which left 107 people dead in the Valley.

It was then that the home ministry experts had zeroed down on the pellet guns and have been using them since 2012. However, this is the first time that the weapon has been used so extensively.