Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: Within a day of the senior BJP leader and former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s ‘ice-breaking meeting’ with the Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and other separatist leaders in Srinagar, Narendra Modi government in the Centre is understood to have directed Police and security forces to immediately stop using of the pump action gun, commonly known as pellet gun, in riot control regime in Kashmir valley.
On Friday, STATE TIMES learned from highly placed authoritative sources that the field officers of J&K Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been directed to communicate verbally to all the units that they should no more use pellet guns to combat the crowds of stone pelters. The direction, sources, said, flew in to Srinagar, in the afternoon on Friday.
The ‘verbal order’ to the forces has raised speculations that the Kashmiri separatist leaders have put up a host of demands to the Centre through Sinha-led “Track-3 team” and stopping use of pellet guns is seen to be the first concession. Activist Sushobha Barve, former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and journalist Bharat Bhushan were among Sinha’s team that managed to meet with the prominent separatist leaders, including Geelani but excluding JKLF Chairman Yasin Malik in Srinagar in the two-day visit.
An academician and a journalist, both close to the PDP-BJP coalition, are said to have acted as facilitators of the meeting between Sinha’s team and the Kashmiri separatists. Publicly, both Sinha as well as BJP have claimed that the group’s visit was in no way sponsored by the BJP Government or party at the Centre. In his statement, Geelani said that the meeting happened “in cordial atmosphere”.
Previously, under Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s direction, Government of India and Government of Jammu and Kashmir officers had formed a committee and recommended PAVA shells as an alternative to pellet gun. However, it came under severe public criticism when a number of civilians and protesters suffered grave medical complications and at least one civilian, Junaid Ahmad Mir of Nasrullahpora Budgam, died due to excessive gas inhalation.
Around 8,000 civilians and protesters are claimed to have sustained injuries in the 112-day riots in Kashmir. Of them, around 2,000 are said to have sustained minor or major pellet injuries. At least seven of the 90 persons killed in the same riots have reportedly died due to pellet injuries. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is on record to have committed that the forces men responsible for killing ATM guard Riyaz Ahmad Shah would be got punished by her government.