Kashmir unrest: Crowd control with least collateral damage is goal, assures CRPF

Amid the outrage over the use of 'excessive force' by security forces in the Valley towards civilians, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has stated that its personnel are being trained thoroughly in every aspect of crowd control with least collateral damage.

Speaking to ANI here, CRPF Director General Durga Prasad said that personnel have been and are being trained thoroughly in every aspect of crowd control.

"We are giving them whatever is needed to handle crowds, which means full body protection etc and also materials that they can control crowds with different levels of intensity with least collateral damage," he said.

Noting that if there has been collateral damage to some extent, the DG said that the main goal will be to contain the damage by training people in such a way that damage is reduced

"Chilli shells were there in the past also, now we have a chemical variant of the same thing, which will also be used," he added.

Pellet guns, which came as an alternate to lethal weapons used by security forces in Kashmir, came under scanner after hundreds of people, most of them children, were injured during a month-long uprising in the valley after militant commander Burhan Wani was shot dead by police in July.