Apparently in order to ensure no further fatalities occur during protests against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru, the Jammu and Kashmir police has asked its men and suppl
Apparently in order to ensure no further fatalities occur during protests against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru, the Jammu and Kashmir police has asked its men and supplementary personnel from CRPF and other Central forces not to carry firearms during law and order duties. They have been advised to instead use only un-lethal gear, such as bamboo sticks, pepper-guns and, in hard situations, also teargas canisters when confronting typical stone-pelting crowds. Officials sources here said that the aim of clamping rigid round-the-clock curfew on the Valley following Guru’s execution was to prevent mayhem and a repeat of the situations witnessed during the civil unrest of summers 2008-10 when several hundred protesters were killed, mainly in security forces’ firing. However, in spite of preventive measure three protesters were killed and scores were injured in clashes with the security forces during the past five days. Though many J&K police and CRPF personnel were also injured, the worse occurred at Wateragam in frontier district of Kupwara on February 10 when the CRPF opened fire on a stone-pelting crowd without seeking mandatory permission from the magistrate on duty and in violation of standard operating procedure (SOP), killing a local youth and wounding five others. The local police has registered an FIR against two members of CRPF’s 92 Battalion involved in the shooting incident. They were on Tuesday briefly detained at Dangiwatch police station for questioning. The bloody incident prompted the government to ask its police department to issue verbal advisory to its men and the CRPF not to carry firearms during law and order duties in the Valley to avoid fatalities among the protesting residents, the sources here said. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is reported to have expressed his displeasure over the Wateragam incident. He had earlier on February 9 said, “We’re managing the situation with maximum restraint possible and I’ve asked the police and the security forces to show restraint.” Inspector general of police (Kashmir range) Shiv Murari Sahai confirmed the police force on ground has been directed to exercise maximum restraint while tackling any law and order situation. He also said that the relaxation in the curfew in various areas will be taken at the local levels by the respective district authorities “after evaluating the situation from time to time.”
