Dear Editor
After a bloodbath of several days, Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh said in the parliament that he has now instructed the armed forces to use the non-lethal weapons below the knee and that too should be used with maximum restraint only on uncontrollable crowds
This statement disturbs me as an Indian, as a citizen of India and not as an Indian nationalist.
As the statement itself being issued only after many days of unwarranted and unchecked assault on Kashmiri brothers, does it mean that for all these days the instructions were to use the lethal weapons above the knee height and with minimum or no restraint and should be used indiscriminately on the Kashmiri people.
What does this mean? Armed Forces were acting all these days without any instructions or with different instructions? And if no, then why Home Minister is issuing the instructions now. Confusing, right? Lets make it simple and make it sound more favorable to our vulnerable armed forces.
Actually I would like to believe that Armed forces have always been asked to exercise maximum restraint and hit only below the knee and I believe that our armed personnel were definitely aiming below the knee. But what to say now? What possible reason could be there for these many deaths.
Ah yes. They were aiming below the knee but due to improper training and lack of practice they were missing the aim and by mistake the pellets are hitting the stomach, and those from others seriously lacking the training are hitting the chest. And still others who might be just newly recruited and not having any training at all, their pellets are missing the mark by a big margin and are hitting the people on their faces, their eyes. Now thats what I call a good explanation of all the causalities.
There are no deliberate human rights violations; its just that our forces are not able to aim properly below the knee and missing the mark as they are not sufficiently trained. Simple.
I know you might be thinking how come I am claiming here that Armed Forces are insufficiently trained. Wait. Did you hear what CRPF Chief had to say? He said as many as 114 companies (about 11,400 personnel), which were undergoing training elsewhere, had to be pulled out and deployed in the state to control the situation.
Really? Armed Forces personnel who were still undergoing training were pulled and deployed in Kashmir to control the crowds. Its like, in some war kind of situation, medical students (to be doctors) were to be pulled out of the medical colleges and sent for treating, operating injured soldiers on the fronts causing more causalities than caused by the war itself.
Now what do you expect from these untrained forces? Its not their fault they have been pulled halfway through their training.
OK, wait. There are some other cases too. Some women had been hit by the pellets while they were standing in their balconies, watching the protestors. Oh, wait some even got hit while they were working in their kitchen on first floor. Now thats a big problem.
Are Indian Armed forces missing the aim, by such a distance that the pellets are hitting people o firstt floor or kitchen in the house. This cannot be even categorized as lack of training. This is something else.
What shall I do? How do I defend my armed forces? Shall I say that they were trying to hit under the knee of the person standing on second floor because that person was abusing the armed forces? Shall I say that it is not the armed forces, it is actually the crowd which has snatched the rifles and guns of the armed forces personnel and fired on people standing on second floor. Wait. Why wouldnt he hit the armed forces personnel instead from whom he has snatched that gun.
Or shall I just say that the men with the gun, backed by the might of the state, have gone terribly berserk and are reacting with no restraint to any small or big thing he considers wrong. After all, it is allowed as per law. You might wonder and ask Excuse me ..which law?
Yes, my dear fellow citizens. Unfortunately, such kind of law exists and it is called Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).
So to maintain law and order, this will continue. Oh. It has just been confirmed by CRPF chief and I quote We will continue the use of pellets
Standing in solidarity with Kashmiri Brothers.
And in sympathy with the state of our armed forces, who have been pushed to the site without proper training or are entrusted with a task more than their capability or are just hyper-reacting in hate.
Citizen of India
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