A delegation from Jammu and Kashmir led by former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, seeking an immediate ban on the use of pellet guns for crowd control in the state. They apprised Modi of the situation in the Valley, which has been in a state of unrest since the encounter in which Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.
The state leaders said, "A continued failure to address the unrest in Kashmir will further deepen the sense of alienation," urging the prime minister to hold talks with all parties concerned in Kashmir at the earliest. In the memorandum, they said the Centre should "waste no further time in initiating a credible and meaningful political dialogue" to tackle the chaos in the Valley, where 66 people have died since Wani's killing on July 8, The Indian Express reported.
Expressing "deep concern and pain" over the crisis in the state, the prime minister told the delegation that a dialogue between all sides involved was needed, adding that a permanent solution needed to be found within the framework of the Constitution. "Whether the lives lost are of our youth, security personnel or police, it distresses us," Modi said. He also issued an appeal for the restoration of normalcy in the state.
The renewed demand for a ban on the use of pellet guns, or pump-action guns, comes after the Central Reserve Police Force said they used 13 lakh pellets on protesters in 32 days. Opposition leaders from Abdullah's National Conference, Kashmir Congress President GA Mir, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami and a few independent legislators were part of the delegation. A group of Opposition leaders had also met President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday.
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