India is set to introduce another non-lethal weapon in India-held Kashmir to quell ongoing protests in the territory.
Although a final decision is yet to be taken, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh indicated that Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel would now use PAVA shells, a chilli-based munition that temporarily incapacitates the target and renders it immobile.
PAVA, or Pelargonic Acid Vanillylamide, also called Nonivamide, is an organic compound found in natural chilli pepper. Once fired, PAVA shells burst out to temporarily stun, immobilise and paralyse the target.
The panel is said to have held a demonstration of PAVA shells earlier this week, reported Times of India.
After severe criticism of the use of pellet guns which injured hundreds of protesters and caused many to lose their sight, the Indian government constituted a seven-member panel consisting of members from the Border Security Force, CRPF, Jammu and Kashmir police, IIT-Delhi and the Ordnance Factory Board, reported Kashmir Media Service.
The panel favoured PAVA shells as an alternative to pellet guns and recommended that the Tear Smoke Unit (TSU) of the BSF in Gwalior should be tasked with bulk production of the shells immediately, with the first lot of 50,000 rounds.
The Indian army has used chilli-based arms as a non-lethal biological weapon for crowd control to disperse demonstrators since at least 2010.