Published: Friday, Aug 27, 2010, 1:41 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_soon-laser-guns-to-quell-stone-pelting-mobs-in-jammu-and-kashmir_1429257
The armed forces and security agencies may soon use laser guns to tackle the stone-pelting mobs in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
Prime minister Manmohan Singh is understood to have given the go-ahead for the selective use of the gun, which is non-lethal and aimed at disorienting a crowd or even terrorists in action.
The gun, Laser Dazzler, would flash a laser beam causing the protesters to go virtually blind for nearly a minute, good enough time for the troops to nab the culprit. The beam is two to three metres wide.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had produced the gun two years ago. It has been successfully tested by the army in “real combat” situations in both J&K and the north-eastern states.
Singh gave a hint about the weapon when he said, “We need to revisit standard operating procedures and crowd control measures to deal with public agitations with non-lethal, yet effective and focused measures.” He was addressing a three-day conference of director-generals and inspector-generals.
His comments come in the backdrop of agitations in J&K since June and the subsequent death of civilians in police action to quell violent protesters.
The prime minister had asked home minister P Chidamabarm to establish a high-powered task force to come out with a set of recommendations on non-lethal crowd control measures.
“Despite the curtailment of militant activities in J&K, the public order dimension in the state has become a cause of serious concern,” Singh said.
These guns are fully compliant with the United Nations (UN) conventions, which prohibit the use of laser guns that cause permanent blindness.
“Laser guns causing permanent blindness are banned under a 1995 UN Convention called the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. But the DRDO gun does not have any such effects on the target. The eyes come back to normal as soon as the dazzling effect of the flash is over,” a top source in the cabinet committee on security told the DNA.
