Daily Times

After failing on all fronts to dissuade agitating farmers, Indian government has now resorted to the use of improvised versions of once banned Punji sticks, which is considered as the indigenous lethal weapon of Vietnam.

Vietnam, a small poor country with hardly sophisticated weapons to match the weaponry might of the American superpower, developed the punji sticks to delay the attacks of proceeding superior American forces, and to some extent their innovative sense and indigenous wisdom did pay off. The Vietnamese use bamboo and iron made Punji sticks to thwart some of the attacks of the barbarous American forces.

Vietnam’s army, during the Vietnam-American War in the 1960s, used these deadly spikes called Punji Sticks or Punji Stakes, which had the intensity to injure and even sometimes kill the raiding enemy American soldiers. But, in India, the present dispensation is using the same deadly weapon, though in the improvised form of iron spikes and nails to thwart agitating farmers to enter the Capital of the country.

The Punji stick or Punji stake is a type of booby-trapped stake. It is a simple spike, made from wood or bamboo, generally placed upright in the ground. Punji sticks are usually deployed in substantial numbers, but in India, the spikes are made up of Iron, thus making it more lethal and deadly.

The Vietnamese forces used bamboo made sharp-edged Punji sticks and planted hidden in the forest areas, in bushes which the unaware American soldiers walked on and fell instantly after having been injured. But Indian government has used tipped rods made of steel and iron, planted them upright in open on roads in concrete floors, and at some places planted nails in upright position fixed in wooden and steel boards, the intention is to block the entry of the protesting farmers. Shockingly, the iron Punji are neither being used against China or Pakistan’s armies but its own people, the peaceful agitating farmers.

To make the Punji sticks more dangerous and poisonous, the Vietnamese army laced sharpened tips of sticks with toxic plants, animal urine, frogs, or even human faeces, to cause infection. Vietnamese soldiers lying in wait for the enemy to step over deploy Punji sticks in the areas where the surprised enemy might be expected to walk in to take cover, thus, soldiers diving for cover would impale themselves with these poisonous Punji sticks.  The presence of punji sticks may be camouflaged by natural undergrowth, crops, grass, brush, or similar materials. They were often incorporated into various types of traps; for example, a camouflaged pit into which a man might fall.

The use of punji sticks in any act of conflict is banned from use under the 1980 Geneva Convention. Among the 13 Extremely Dangerous Weapons that are banned in Wars, the Punji Sticks stands at the tenth position in the list of dangerous weapons and poisonous substances.  The following is the list of banned dangerous weapons: Nerve Agent VX, Sarin Gas, Sulphur mustard, tabun, cluster bombs, hollow-point bullets, white phosphorus munitions. Drug-resistant bio-weapons, Anti-Personnel landmine and Punji Sticks.

The focal point of attack of the Punji sticks was generally in the lower-leg area, where it inflicted serious injuries. In many cases, legs have to be amputated due to irreparable damages, while deaths were a rare thing.

It is unclear whether the use of upright nails and sharp-edged iron rods without having laced with any poisonous materials are also banned or not under the Geneva Convention of 1980.

Punji sticks have a long history of horrible pain and agony it causes to anyone who walks right into the traps. The use of punji sticks in any act of conflict is banned from use under the 1980 Geneva Convention.

The Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, (September 2007) list alternative spellings in its entry for “punji stake (or stick)”: panja, panjee, panjie, panji, and punge all of which the editor’s note are about as common as the spelling they use. Punji sticks were banned in the early 1980s with the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

The government of India must understand that the policies and ploys, it has decided to adopt to dissuade protesting farmers, was once used by the countries for their enemies. The moot point to understand for the government is that the protesting farmers are not outsiders, they are bonafide citizens of this nation and their grievances should be redressed without making things go clumsy and out of hand.

The writer is a senior journalist and columnist.