Asia Sentinel
Covid pandemic, frequent lockdowns worsen the plight of pellet victims
12 hr ago
By: Majid Maqbool
Mohammad Ashraf Wani, from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was 25 when he was hit in the face by pellets fired by government forces outside his home during a protest following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in 2016.
Having undergone multiple corrective surgeries over the years, Ashraf, who is now 31 can see just a little but only from his left eye. Every time he looks in the mirror, he says he cannot recognize himself.
Ashraf is one of the thousands of Kashmiris who have been injured by Indian security forces who typically use 12-page pump-action shotguns to fire cartridges filled with dozens or hundreds of the small metal pellets, sometimes called birdshot or dove shot. Initially concentrated in tight patterns when fired, they disperse to reach a wide radius, causing indiscriminate injuries, often to bystanders.
Marriage out of sight for Kashmir’s pellet gun victims
Losing their eyesight is the start of their problems SAMAA | Web desk - Posted: Dec 28, 2020 | Last Updated: 3 months ago SAMAA | Web desk Posted: Dec 28, 2020 | Last Updated: 3 months ago
Photo: AFP
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Losing your eyesight can be traumatic enough, but it can also result in losing your prospective spouse.
Twenty-six-year-old Manzoor Ahmad Dar hides that he is blind in one eye because his long-term girlfriend left him over it in 2019. Today, when families visit his home in Indian Occupied Kashmirâs Pulwama district to verify his background, he does not tell them that his vision is impaired.