Avoid Using Pellet Guns, Rajnath Singh Tells Security Forces In Kashmir

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today appealed to security forces to refrain from using pellet guns in Kashmir where unrest sparked by the killing of 22-year-old terrorist Burhan Wani earlier this month has left around 3,000 people injured and at least 47 dead.

Saying that thousands of security personnel have also been injured, Mr Singh appealed to protesters to not throw rocks at the forces. He said security forces have been asked to exercise maximum restraint when dealing with protesters.

"We are doing all we can do for the injured," the Home Minister, on a two-day visit to the valley, said. Security forces' use of crowd-control means like pellet guns have triggered widespread concern and opened the government to attacks from the Opposition.

"The Prime Minister is also worried about the current state of affairs here. We don't want a need-based relationship with Kashmir, we want an emotional one," Mr Singh said on a day he met several delegations in the valley including the state's Opposition National Conference.

Training guns on Pakistan, he said the country which itself was "a victim of terror", should not fuel militancy in Kashmir. "Pakistan's role isn't pak (pure) in relation to Kashmir. They need to change their behaviour," he said.

Mr Singh's remarks come a day after Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj's sharp rebuke to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for supporting protests against what Islamabad has described at the United Nations and elsewhere as India's blatant violation of human rights in Kashmir.

Accusing Islamabad of an "unabashed embrace of terrorism" Ms Swaraj warned that its stated goal of detaching Kashmir from India will "not be realised to the end of eternity."