Just a day ahead of the All Party Delegation to Kashmir, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has cleared the file to replace the pellet guns used by forces in Kashmir with the Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA) shells-the chilli-filled grenades, official sources told PTK from New Delhi.
Now the forces will be firing chilli-filled/ PAVA grenades in Kashmir as an alternative to pellets guns, which have since July 8, left thousands of people injured and many have lost their eyesight to these pellets.
However, the forces will continue to use the pellets, but in rare of the rarest situations.
According to sources, a consignment of as many as 1000 shells would be reaching the Kashmir Valley on Sunday. Just two days ago, around 6.3 crore pellet cartridges have already been sent to Kashmir by the central government.
During his two-day visit to Kashmir on August 24-25, Singh had said an alternative to pellet guns will be given to security forces in the coming days.
A seven-member committee headed by Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry T V SN Prasad had in its report submitted on August 29, recommended the use of PAVA shells.
Kashmir valley continues to remain on boil since July 8, after the Killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
(PTK)/