Says govt seeking expert opinion on alternative to pellet guns in volatile situations.

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 21

Attacking Pakistan for “spreading terrorism” in India and “fanning the ongoing violence” in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the government is in the process of seeking expert opinion on alternatives to the use of non-lethal weapons like pellet guns in volatile situations.Replying to a debate in Lok Sabha on Thursday, on the issue of Kashmir violence, Rajnath lay the blame of simmering tensions in the Valley on the doors of Pakistan saying dreaded terrorist Hafiz Saeed had now come out openly to claim that he had spoken to the slain Hijbul Mujahideen commander a few days prior to his killing.“Hizbul Mujahideen is an important part of United Jehad Council which works to destabilise India on the orders of Pakistan. Pakistan is constantly engaged in the pursuit to create troubles in India to deflect the attention of the world from its misgovernance and failures. There is no doubt that Pakistan has played a principal role in ruining the atmosphere in Kashmir and has then gone to the extent of observing Black Day on their soil in respect of what was an internal affair of India,” a firm Rajnath said, admonishing Pakistan not to bother about Indian Muslims, who are patriots.Listing the details of casualties in the Valley, Rajnath said 38 people had died and 2,180 were injured. “Of the injured, 2,055 have been discharged from hospitals. I must say here that 1,739 security personnel, too, were injured and despite such a vast scale of injury they adopted as much restraint in dealing with the violence in Kashmir as they could,” the minister said, adding that PM Narendra Modi and he himself had asked the forces to adopt maximum restraint in the Valley.On the concerns of MPs about the use of pellet guns which have caused several eye injuries in Kashmir, Rajnath said he had decided to form a committee of experts to suggest alternatives to the use of pellet guns.“Pellet guns were not used in Kashmir for the first time. These were used in 2010 also. At that time six people had died, 198 had suffered eye injuries and five had been blinded. This time we have had one death, 53 injuries and no blinding,” the minister noted, adding that the government is open to considering alternatives to pellet guns as a means for crowd management and control.On the issue of sending an all-party delegation to Kashmir, Rajnath said JK Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had asked him to let the situation become normal first. “Even I wanted to go to Kashmir but she advised me to wait. She has said she is coming to Delhi in three days to discuss the issue of a delegation,” Singh added.