Soon, non-lethal weapons to tackle Kashmir rioters

SRINAGAR - Police and paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley are set to change from lethal to non-lethal weapons like Taser guns, pellets and pepper balls after 62 civilians lost their lives in the ongoing unrest. But their efficacy is still in question.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) plane brought an assortment of non-lethal weapons here Saturday to be immediately distributed for riot control across the Valley, which has seen violent clashes between mobs and security forces for more than two months.

The non-lethal weapons include the US-made Taser guns, which discharge a nine-volt current that momentarily immobilizes a protester so that he can be taken into custody without causing any grievous hurt.

The other non-lethal weapon that has been pressed into service for riot control is the Pump Action Gun (PAG).

“The PAG fires pellets at the protesters, while the Taser gun uses electric discharge to temporarily immobilize the rioter,” a senior police officer here said on condition of anonymity.

“We have also started using pepper balls, which discharge highly irritating fumes that will force the mobs to disperse,” he said.

Despite the shift from the lethal to non-lethal weapons for crowd control, those who know these weapons well as professionals say the difference between the two is purely academic.

“To tell you the truth, there is nothing like a non-lethal weapon as long as it is used from a close range,” the officer said.

“Unless the mandatory distance of contact between the rioter and the riot controller is maintained, all so-called non-lethal weapons can cause mortality,” he said.

The officer, however, added: “There are of course certain items which cannot be classified as weapons, but can be used without any fear of causing mortality during crowd control operations.”

“These items include dye sprinkled through water cannons and pepper balls, but the debate continues whether these two items have any efficacy at all on crowds bent on even snatching firearms from the deployed security men,” the officer argued.

He accepted that even tear smoke shells had caused mortality in the Valley while their use elsewhere in the country had not resulted in any fatal injury.

“This happens because of the ferocity of the protesting crowds and the failure of the security forces to maintain the mandatory distance between them and the protesters,” he explained.

The official revealed that the PAG uses 12 bore pellets manufactured by the Indian ordnance factories.

“Unless the pellets of the right caliber are used, the PAG can definitely result in causing fatal injuries. It is not safe to use pellets of larger diameters for the PAGs during riot control.

“Anything below six caliber 12 bore pellets would be unsafe. The safest way is to use pellets of fairly smaller calibers like 7 or 9 and those too must be fired from a fairly safer distance to ensure minimum injuries to the rioters,” the officer said.

Alarmed by the recent mortalities during riot control, the authorities have spent tens of millions of rupees to ensure that nobody suffers critical injuries during these operations in the Valley henceforth.

The unrest in the valley since June 11 has claimed as many as 62 lives, a majority of them in firing by security forces.