Srinagar, Aug 8: The repeated assurances by police and paramilitary forces to switch over to the use of non-lethal weapons while dispersing street protests in Kashmir have fallen flat,  drawing flak from several political and non-political quarters.
 In the past three months, senior police and CRPF officials have been making repeated promises of adopting “newer crowd control measures” to avoid loss of human lives during the protests. But the promises are yet to be fulfilled.
 On July 13, a Delhi-based daily quoted CRPF Special Director General (J&K) NK Tripathi saying: “We received a few pepper guns last week. We will first experiment with them and then look at putting them into use whenever a violent situation erupts. We are always under the public scanner and mob management is the biggest challenge for us. In the past, our men have opened fire in self-defence under extreme situations. But this new equipment will prove perfectly non-lethal.”
 On ground, however, it is only the lethal weapons that are being used. “In the past two months, most of the injured we received had bullet wounds. There were hardly any injuries caused with rubber bullets or other non-lethal weapons,” said a doctor at SMHS hospital.
 Similar is the situation in SKIMS Soura. “Here we have scores of people who have sustained bullets either above legs or above chest. What we believe is that most of them have been shot from close range,” said a SKIMS official, insisting not to be named.
 More than 45 civilians, mostly youth, have lost their lives in the past three months in action by police and paramilitary forces. In the past one week, 30 people have lost their lives after police and paramilitary forces fired upon them in different parts of Kashmir Valley.
 On June 19, a senior police officer had promised police reforms in the wake of killing of teenaged Tufail Ahmad Matoo of Rainawari after an inquiry report confirmed that Tufail was hit by a teargas shell.
 Police had promised that only the Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) level officers would be allowed to use teargas shells. It has also promised police reforms including holding of refresher courses and special training sessions for policemen handling street protests.
 “Unfortunately, sometimes in the heat of the moment, our cops violate the standard operational procedure and fire the teargas canisters and rubber pellets directly on the mob which result in causalities and fatal injuries. We have taken strong note of the killings by teargas shells and other such propellants and devised a comprehensive training sessions to enable them to effectively deal even extreme situations,” the police officer had told Greater Kashmir on June 19. “During the past nearly three years, police had to deal with a tough situation in the Valley. There was no time for brushing up their skills to tackle mobs. It is the right time to take the initiative for better management of law and order and larger public interest.”
 While Delhi-based experts on defence and law and order, and also various political leaders, are these days seen making statements on the significance of introducing “non-lethal weapons and newer measures” to control street protests in Kashmir, police and CRPF seem to be unmoved.  Even a Jammu and Kashmir government spokesperson recently said that the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, advocated use of non-lethal weapons during protests. "The requirements in terms of non-lethal equipments for the state police force and paramilitary forces to control large crowds also came up for discussion. The plan of action for the days and weeks to come to deal with the present situation received the focused attention in the meeting," he said, referring to Omar’s meeting with the Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi recently.
 “You see, bullet is not the solution to the street protests. You need to handle them and bring the situation under control. And that can be done only when you are well-versed with handling street protests and you are properly equipped with equipments which are non-lethal,” said a Delhi-based expert on defence. “Right now, forces seem to be lacking that training. So it is important to contemplate reforms in police and paramilitary forces so that we don’t see anymore killings.”
 The Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad refused to comment on the issue. “These are Police Headquarter level issues. Why don’t you talk to the Director General of Police about it,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 The DGP however didn’t respond to repeated calls from Greater Kashmir. The Srinagar-based PRO of CRPF could not be contacted for his comments.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
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