ISLAMABAD: Experts in occupied Kashmir have said that Kashmir is the only place in the world where pellets continue to be used with such severity on protesters.
Media reports quoting the experts revealed that options were already available in the market that could render pellets useless and prevent any further damages to life, Kashmir Media Service reported.
Pellet guns or shotguns, commonly used in crowd control since 2010 in Kashmir, have caused blindness, maimed people and turned fatal in many cases.
Former puppet Chief Minister of Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his recent address in Indian Parliament opposed the use of pellet guns.
“The pellet guns were not used during the Haryana riots despite large-scale violence across the state, then why in Kashmir?” he questioned.
World over the police is using a number of non-lethal and effective weapons to manage a crowd. In many countries police use 40mm-caliber sponge rounds that are effective against stone throwers without causing any lethal injury.
Often used in Kashmir on protesting employees, Water Cannons have not been used on protestors during the current turmoil.
Even politicians have raised queries if water cannon were used against Jat rioters in Haryana why the same were not employed in Kashmir.
On the contrary, the Hurriyet leaders offer the easiest solution to the problem. They say India should fulfill the pledge that its leaders had made with people of Jammu and Kashmir about holding of plebiscite and let the Kashmiris decide their future by themselves.
This will be a democratic solution, and no party will have to use pellet or bullet, it will be the ballot that will decide the fate.
