Alternatives to pellet guns in J&K in few days: Rajnath Singh

As the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir continued for the 48th day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said an alternative to pellet guns would be proposed within a few days in the wake of widespread criticism of the crowd-control device that has left thousands of people in the Valley blinded.

Declaring there is no future for India without Kashmir, Singh again invoked Atal Bihari Vajpayee's policy of 'Kashmiriyat, Insaniyat and Jamhooriyat' (Kashmir's pluralist ethos, humanity and democracy) again to signal that the NDA government was ready for dialogue with anyone.

"We want to shape future of India. If future of Kashmir is not shaped, future of India cannot be shaped too," Singh, with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti by his side, told reporters on the second day of his visit to Kashmir — his second in one month — as part of Centre's outreach to people of Kashmir.

Singh said an expert committee set up by the Home Minister and mandated to look for an alternative to pellet guns is expected to give its report in two-three days.

Replying to a question on the use of pellet guns against violent protesters, the Home Minister said as promised during his last visit to Kashmir Valley, he has constituted an expert committee which would submit its report within two months.

"It is just one month, and report of that committee will come within two-three days. Within few days, we will give an alternative to pellet guns.

"In 2010, it was said pellet gun is a non-lethal weapon which can cause the least damage but now we feel that there should be some alternate to this," he said.

• Kashmir unrest
• Rajnath Singh
• Mehebooba Mufti