Baby Hibba’s Pellet injury renews demand for Ban

Srinagar: Hibba, a 19-month-old girl of Shopian’s Batgund village, has become the youngest victim of the pellet-firing pump-action shotguns used by the security forces for “crowd control” in Jammu and Kashmir.

She, according to her father Mushtaq Ahmed, was hit in her right eye while standing in the window of their house near the site of clashes between irate crowds and the security forces in the aftermath of the killing of six militants in a firefight on November 25.

The incident has again brought into sharp focus the alleged mishandling of pellet-firing shotguns and the outcry against the use of the weapon is loud and clear.

Amnesty International (AI) and several other world human rights organisations, apart from localgroups, have repeatedly urged the security forces to stop the use of pellet-firing shotguns “in line with international human rights standards on the use of force”. However, the use of the weapon to tackle stone-pelting mobs in the restive Valley continues.

Officials of the security forces say that the use of the weapon for “crowd control” can’t be stopped but minimised and also the guns now have deflectors to direct the non-lethal pellets below the abdomen.

But doctors say that the so-called “non-lethal” weapon continues to maim and blind people. They say that the number of people injured after being hit by shrapnels above the abdomen region, including eyes, is only increasing.

They also say that hundreds of youngsters whose vision was impaired by the use of pellet shotguns arestruggling psychologically which is impacting their chances of improving. “The sufferers are facing multiple issues including of psychological nature,” confirmed psychiatrist Abdul Wahid Khan.

Recently, a local volunteer group organised a mental health programme in Srinagar’s Nigeen Club forpellet victims, particularly those who are suffering emotionally. Most of those who attended it said that they are suffering from emotional disorders, including depression and extreme stress, and have also developed improper eating habits.

Doctors say that most of these conditions can lead to negative behaviour in a person’s personality. Some of the participating students said that their studies were adversely affected after they were hit by pellets. “After I was hit in pellet firing I can’t do anything right and properly. I have lost interest in studies also,”  said Raees Ahmed Mir.

Waseem Rashid, a medical official, however, said that if a person gets immediate help including psychological support from others, especially his own family members, the risk of him developing mental health problems can be minimised. “Not all those who are hit by pellets do fall victim to mental illness as well but there are chances of it happening,” he said.

He urged the families of  pellet victims to extend their full emotional support to them.

Zeeshan Rehman, one of the organisers, said that the event was focused on  talking about mental wellbeing of victims aimed at raising funds for them particularly those whose vision has been affected.

No one is talking about these victims. They see their dreams being shattered. We’re trying to raise new hope in each one of them,” he said.

Officials say that a number of measures have been taken by the government for the rehabilitation of pellet victims which include providing them suitable jobs or, after evaluating the damage caused to them, giving them cash compensation.

However, several persons who have suffered injuries in their eyes and other vital parts of body complain that no one from the government came to their help.

“I don’t know who they are talking about. Nobody helped me. I’m on my own. I also want to make it clear that I was not part of any stone-pelting mob, Still no one in the government is helping me fight the trauma,” said Mir.

Pellet guns were first introduced to Kashmir by duck-hunting British expeditions and would often be referred to as “chharra bandook” in local jargon. In 2010, the local police came up with a contemporary version of the weapon, presenting it as “non lethal” to quell the protesters who often take to the streets in the Valley and elsewhere to vent their political feelings and frustration and habitually engage the security forces in stone-pelting including during or immediately after their encounters with separatist militants.

The situation took a turn for the worse after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. Since the number of those getting injured in pellet-firing is only increasing.

Till last month, as many as 1,253 people whose eyesight was damaged in the use of pellet-firing shotguns were treatedat Srinagar’s government-run Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital since July 2016.

Of these, 61 were injured in both eyes causing them total or partial blindness.