Pellet use at its lowest in Kashmir since 2016

After remaining at centre of focus in Kashmir for almost two years after 2016, the use of pellet guns has gone all-time low given the decreasing intensity of street protests. The security top brass attributes the less use of pellets to strict adherence of standard operating procedure that enlists use of pellets as “last option.”

This acquisition of pellet ammunition by the security forceshas also touched a new low after 2016 as officials assert that due to less usethey already have enough stocks available.

   

This year one death – that of a class 7 student OwaisMushtaq Mir of Handwara – was caused in pellet firing by security forces,compared to several such killings in 2016.

Figures available with the CRPF reveal that since Januaryless than ten per cent of pellets were used by its men while dealing with theprotests. “In 2016, all the available stock of pellets exhausted and we had toseek more supplies. In 2017, our men also used pellets to disperse theprotestors and the use of pellets remained up to 70 per cent of the stockavailable with us,” a senior CRPF official revealed.

“After 2018 summer, the use of pellets saw a decliningtrend. This year we hardly used pellets as protests didn’t turn ugly the waythey were in 2016 and 2017.”

Inspector general of CRPF Srinagar sector, Ravideep SinghSahi, said that one of the major factors responsible for less use of pellets inKashmir this year is that there were no intense protests. “The number and theintensity of protests have gone down considerably in Kashmir,” Sahi toldGreater Kashmir.

He said another important measure to ensure less damage tothe protestors and their eyes was the strict adherence of SoPs and the intensetraining of firing pellets below the waist. “The SoPs clearly states that useof pellets should be the last option,” he said.

Greater Kashmir recently carried a detailed report quotingofficial report that suggested that the intensity of protests in Kashmir inyear 2019 had gone down by 60 per cent.

In 2016, the use of pellets had left thousands of youthinjured with around 1000 of them getting hit in their eyes. Some 100 civilianslost their eyesight in one eye or both. In 2018, 725 persons sustained pelletinjuries and many of them were hit in eyes. However, according to doctors,damage caused to youth due to pellet injuries was far less in 2018 compared to2016 and 2017.

In November 2018, pellets were fired in the eyes of 20-monthold Hiba and she became the youngest victim of pellet horror in Kashmir.

The use of pellet guns has evoked sharp criticism with manyglobal bodies and the rights body Amnesty International frequently demandingban on use of pellets.

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