A top government official on Monday said that while pump action guns, or pellet guns, will not be banned completely, they will be only be fired in the “rarest of rare cases”, according to PTI. The official said that senior government functionaries decided to withdraw the frequent use of the guns following consultations with security forces in the Kashmir Valley, where thousands of people have been injured by them.

The government’s decision came days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that security forces in Kashmir would be provided with an alternative to pellet guns. Singh had said that an expert committee “formed a month ago” would be submitting its report on alternatives “very soon”. The committee, meanwhile, is believed to have selected ‘PAVA’ shells, a chilli-based ammunition, as pellet replacements for crowd control operations, PTI reported. The panel is believed to have held a demonstration of the shells, which were undergoing trials at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research for over a year.

Security forces in the Valley began using pump action guns after large-scale protests and demonstrations in the region following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani. Official data has revealed that around 51% of civilians injured in the ongoing crisis were hit by pellets, according to The Hindu. Singh has called for forces to exercise maximum restraint while dealing with demonstrators.