{"id":15282,"date":"2019-01-10T13:30:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/?p=15282"},"modified":"2019-01-10T13:30:51","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T08:00:51","slug":"concern-363-people-suffered-pellet-injuries-in-eyes-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=15282","title":{"rendered":"CONCERN: 363 people suffered pellet injuries in eyes last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lowest number of injuries has been reported in the month of February when only two people were hit in their eyes.<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Zehru Nissa <\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n

Use of pellet shotguns continues to take a heavy toll on the people of Kashmir, with 363 persons sustaining injuries in their eyes due to use of the deadly metallic ammunition in 2018.<\/i>
\nAccording to the data compiled by the general specialty SMHS hospital in Srinagar, there hasn\u2019t been a month last year when pellets were not used by forces on protesters. <\/i><\/p>\n

The data reveals that the month of April has been \u2018deadliest\u2019 in terms of pellet injuries, with 70 people being hit in their eyes during the month.<\/i>
\nIn May, October and November, 54, 44 and 30 people, respectively, suffered loss of vision due to pellets, the data reveals. <\/i>
\nThe lowest number of injuries has been reported in the month of February when only two people were hit in their eyes.<\/i>
\nIn November, 19-month-old Hiba Jan from southern Shopian district lost an eye to the deadly pellets, thus becoming the youngest victim of the lethal ammunition being frequently used by forces to quell street protests since the 2016 public uprising in Kashmir.<\/i>
\nAn official at SMHS hospital said five people lost vision in both eyes in 2018 due to pellets. This, he said, included a 14-year-old boy.<\/i>
\nOn Eid-ul-Fitr, 11 people sustained pellet injuries in their eyes, while one youth was critically injured in head with the ammunition, suffering \u201cextensive brain damage\u201d on that day.<\/i>
\nIn 2019 too, pellets have resulted in injuries to seven youth in their eyes, a source at the hospital said.<\/i>
\nOn January 3 this year, when the government of India announced that plastic bullets would replace pellet shotguns, two people were injured in eyes with pellets fired by forces in Tral area of southern Pulwama district. Both the injured, according to a doctor, suffered \u201csubstantial loss of vision\u201d.<\/i>
\nWhile the government of India\u2019s claim that pellet shotguns are not lethal has been disputed by many international human rights organisations in the past, their use continues unabated amidst uproar.<\/i>
\nNews reports recently quoted authorities at the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) saying that the new ammunition (plastic bullet) is \u201c500 times less lethal than pellets.\u201d<\/i>
\nThe organisation\u2019s director was quoted as saying that \u201ca solution is needed for the notorious pellet guns\u201d.<\/i>
\nAt SMHS hospital, the nodal point for treatment of people with eye injuries due to pellets, doctors express deep anguish at the disabilities caused by pellets and demanded that the controversial weapon be banned immediately.<\/i>
\n\u201c2019 should be a year when pellets should be banned so that we don\u2019t have hundreds losing eyesight to the lethal weapon,\u201d a senior doctor at the hospital said.<\/i>
\nExplaining how pellets cause irreparable damage to eyes, he said: \u201cPellets often damage retina, which is a neural tissue, like brain\u201d.<\/i>
\nHe said damage to any neural tissue is very difficult to be undone.<\/i>
\n\u201cEven if the retina is repaired, there is a residual scar that has a bearing on vision,\u201d he said.<\/i>
\nThe doctor said that since 2016, over 1500 people have lost eyesight due to pellets.<\/i>
\n\u201cThis (number) is outrageous, but nothing is being done about this mass blinding,\u201d he said.<\/i>
\nThe official said the SMHS hospital figures on pellet injuries don\u2019t include the injured who seek treatment in district and other hospitals.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Story Was Published in Greater Kashmir Largest Circulated Daily Of Jammu Kashmir<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lowest number of injuries has been reported in the month of February when only two people were hit in their eyes. Zehru Nissa Use of pellet shotguns continues to take a heavy toll on the people of Kashmir, with 363 persons sustaining injuries in their eyes due to use of the deadly metallic ammunition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}