The international human rights watchdog Amnesty International Thursday asked Indian administered Kashmir government to suspend use of pepper gas in the region.
Srinagar, March 21/Nationalturk – After deaths of three Kashmiris and harmful effects on bystanders, the international human rights watchdog Amnesty International Thursday asked Indian administered Kashmir government to suspend use of pepper gas in the region.
“The Indian administered Kashmir government and police departments have clearly not established any guidelines or monitoring on the use of the pepper gas. The use of it has been widespread and not subject to assessment,” said Shashikumar Velath, Programme Director at Amnesty International India.
He said use of pepper gas in these situations is yet another example of unregulated and excessive use of force by the police in Kashmir.
He said Amnesty International has called on police officials to cease the general use of the pepper gas as a tool for dispersing large crowds, and for the government of Kashmir to establish guidelines and procedures adhering to international standards as laid down by the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
“These standards clearly state that the use of force in the dispersal of protests or public assemblies should where possible be avoided, and where any use of force is necessary it should be restricted to the absolute minimum required. The same principle applies to the use of “non-lethal” weapons such as tear gas or pepper gas and that the use of such weapons should again be limited to only what is “necessary and proportional” in the particular circumstances, given that these weapons can cause death or serious injury,” he said.
Conduct probe into deaths caused by pepper gas
The Amnesty also called Kashmir government to conduct a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the three deaths that were allegedly caused by the use of pepper gas.
On March 8, a 60-year-old woman died after a stray pepper spray grenade landed in her house in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir from outside and detonated, engulfing her home in fumes. Two others also died allegedly from exposure to the pepper gas.
Media reports had said all three suffered from pulmonary diseases such as chronic asthma, which were exacerbated by prolonged exposure to the pepper spray, according to media reports.
“These deaths underscore that police at all times must exercise restraint in the use of such non-lethal weapons, minimize damage and injury, and ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to injured or affected persons at the earliest possible moment,” Amnesty said.
Pepper spray grenades were incorporated into the arsenal of “non-lethal” weaponry used to maintain law and order and disperse large crowds in Kashmir after a five-month street protest in 2010 left over 120 dead.
The police and other law enforcement agencies in Kashmir have been using pepper spray, or pepper gas, in combination with tear gas or alone, to disperse protestors for the past month after execution of Afzal Guru in India’s Tihar jail on February 9.
The gas leaks into people’s homes causing immediate symptoms such as severe irritation to the throat, lungs and skin that lasts for 1-2 hours, and often leads to complications in people with pre-existing conditions such as asthma.
Amnesty has said that irritants that potentially cause harm, such as pepper gas, must be used in very limited and controlled quantities and situations. “Their use should also be evaluated and monitored,” it said.
“Amnesty International campaigns for rigorous independent investigations to assess the risk to human rights of law enforcers using such devices and calls for such research to be open to public scrutiny,” it added.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News
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