Kashmir unrest: Doctors bandage an eye to protest use of pellet guns

Srinagar: Doctors of Government Medical College, Srinagar on Wednesday staged a unique and silent protest inside the college, covering their one eye with the bandage to represent hundreds of victims who have been blinded due to pellets during the ongoing unrest in Kashmir Valley. [caption id=“attachment_2947564” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Government Medical College doctors in Srinagar protest the use of pellet guns by security forces. Sameer Yasir[/caption] The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had disapproved use of pellet guns by government forces last month and sought a report from the Centre on handling of the “lethal weapons by untrained personnel”. “These are your people. They have anger. They are protesting. That does not mean you should render them disabled. You have to protect them. Hope it (use of pellet guns) is reviewed,” a division bench comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar said while hearing a plea on the rampant use of pellet guns in the Valley following a unrest that began on 8 July. Meanwhile, the government has said it would look into the use of pellet guns in the Valley. It will constitute a seven-member expert team headed by a joint secretary in the home ministry to explore possible alternatives to the use of pellet guns. But the use of the guns continues unabated on the ground and almost every day, hospitals throughout the Valley receive people injured by the pellets. Dr Sajad Majid Qazi, general secretary of Doctors Association, said that the use of pellets anywhere is inhuman and should be immediately stopped. He asked how anyone can claim that that these weapons were non-lethal, when three people have already been killed because of them and hundreds have been maimed. “Around 350 people have been partially or fully blinded by these pellets. Doctors from the state and outside are of the same opinion that the use of these so called non-lethal weapon should be banned immediately,” Dr Qazi told Firstpost. The ongoing unrest began in the Valley after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed on 8 July. Since then government forces have used pellet guns frequently to quell the protests in the region. The association of the doctors demanded that the  authorities should immediately ban on pellet guns. They stressed that the unabated use of pellet guns to quell protests in Kashmir is causing an irreparable damage to vital organs of  both men and women. They said the use of tear gas shells was equally detrimental to the health of patients, attendants and the hospital staff. Ironically the Director General of CRPF Durga Prasad triggered a fresh controversy by equating pellet-blinding with “wife-beating.” When asked by a newspaper, when CRPF would stop using pellet guns in Kashmir, Prasad was quoted saying: “It’s like asking when would you stop beating your wife.” Sajad Khanday, another doctor at the protest venue, said that despite concerns of doctors from the Valley and outside, the government has been unable to stop the rampant use of pellet guns, and the hospitals continue to receive patients with pellet injuries from different parts of Kashmir. ‘’We wanted to show our solidarity with the victims of the pellet guns who have been maimed for life. A silent protest is the best way to express your helplessness when the state turns a blind eye towards its own people,” Khanday told Firstpost.