“Time and again and when I spoke on the Floor of the House in Rajya Sabha and Hon’ble Home Minister was there and out of the six demands, which I made, to which, he did not reply to even one of them – the first demand was that in no civilized country the use of pellet guns is any more valid. So, the first thing is that Hon’ble Home Minister should do that he should tell the State Government, the Security Forces, the para-military forces and particularly CRPF that they should not use pellet guns in future and subsequently when after he went, I gave a statement from UP requesting the Home Minister that since he is meeting the Senior Officers of the State Government – both Para-military and senior Officers including Chief Minister, he should make it sure that the use of pellet guns should be totally banned”.
He described the statement of Director General of CRPF, K Durga Prasad as unfortunate which will further alienate the people of the state, especially youth.
CRPF chief had said yesterday while regretting for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Valley but said it would continue to use this “least-lethal” weapon but only in “extreme”situations.
Azad also said the DG, CRPF’s statement, coming immediately after the return of Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Kashmir, indicated it had the consent of the government.
“I am very sad and I was very disturbed after reading the statement of CRPF, DG…That is something unacceptable. I am sorry that the type of decision the Government of India has taken, this will further alienate the people of Jammu and Kashmir and particularly the youth because mostly the youth have been subjected to this kind of treatment as they have been on the forefront (of protests),” he said.
He also urged opposition and other political parties and all the Media persons, TV Channels to create a congenial atmosphere and not add fuel to the fire to aggravate the situation as Kashmir is facing a great crisis.
“In this abnormal situation which has been is prevailing in the valley because there has been 18 days of continuous curfew. You can imagine the type of hardships the people are facing in getting the essential commodities. You can imagine the type of problem the poor people must be facing who do not have enough money to store their essential commodities for more than two days or even 24 hours”, Azad said.