Plastic Bullets Replace Pellets; Ready To Be Tested in Kashmir

Plastic bullets are set to replace the ‘dangerous’ pellets in Kashmir to deal with violent mobs and stone pelters. How dangerous are the plastic bullets and what kind of impact will they have on agitators is to be seen, but according to sources plastic bullets can be equally lethal if aimed correctly.

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If a plastic bullet hits the face or any vital organ, it is very likely to prove disastrous. However, one advantage with plastic bullets is that they can be used for precise targeting like real bullets which means injury to fewer people.

These plastic bullets are entirely different from standard bullets. If you aim and hit below the waist with plastic bullets it’s not likely to prove fatal, but the probability of fatality will be more if the bullet hits any vital organ.

A news report on January 6 said the Centre was planning to replace pellet shotguns, originally designed for hunting animals, with plastic bullets. The Indian government has been facing growing criticism nationally and internationally for leaving hundreds of blinded and maimed due to pellet injuries in Kashmir.

These new bullets will be the fifth such supposedly ‘non-lethal’ weapons to be used in Kashmir in recent years. But it is the first time that plastic bullets will be added to the security forces’ armoury anywhere in India. “These bullets have not been used anywhere [in India] so far.

From teargas shells and rubber bullets to chilli-based PAVA shells and pellet guns, government forces have experimented with different weapons in the ‘non-lethal’ category in Kashmir, where anti-government protests have refused to die down.

“Every new weapon is being experimented in Kashmir. We have seen how people in other states like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have held massive protests, damaged public property and even killed men in uniform. But they never faced pellets. It is only the people of Kashmir who are treated as guinea pigs,” said senior National Conference leader and former law minister Ali Muhammad Sagar.

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