Deemed to be 'non lethal weapons', these guns are used to disperse crowds during protests that can pierce the body of a protester with hundreds of micro ball bearings when fired at a short range.
His mother digs a mound of rice from the tiffin box to feed him, and 19-year-old Sahil removes his shades to wipe tears from his left eye, totally damaged due to injury he has suffered after being hit by pellets. The disfigurement in his eye casts absolute dread on his family and friends. "We are hoping for his speedy recovery," his father Zahoor Ahmad says wearing expressions of dismay.
Inside Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital's Ward number 8, Zahoor Ahmad wonders if his son has become just another number adding to the list of youth in Kashmir bearing the wrath of pellet guns. Deemed to be 'non lethal weapons', these guns are used to disperse crowds during protests that can pierce the body of a protester with hundreds of micro ball bearings when fired at a short range. Rough figures suggest that over 50 Kashmiri youth have lost their eyesight in last two years due to use of these weapons.
Sahil recalls that he was not even participating in the agitation and 'was on his way back from tuitions' when he was maimed by pellets on June 27 during a shutdown in the Srinagar district. The protest was called by Hurriyat leadership against the desecration of valley's central mosque - Jama Masjid - by state police the previous day.
How deadly are these 'non-lethal' weapons
Reacting to the use of pellet guns in the valley, after a class Xth student Hamid Nazir was hit in a similar manner in May, international human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI), had called for a ban on the use of these weapons during policing demonstrations. "In policing protests, the police must also distinguish between persons engaging in violence and peaceful demonstrators or bystanders," AI said in an official statement urging state government to heed the plea.
Locals, who have witnessed such protests, share that the pellets hit people indiscriminately without any accuracy irrespective of whether a person is a part of agitation or a mere passerby.
A study by Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Medical College's Dr Wasim Rashid, last year in July, concluded that the ocular injuries due to pellets is 'becoming increasingly common in Kashmir' and that even after advance in surgical techniques, the victim's vision bears the brunt. The study was conducted upon 20 patients including a woman. "The best preventive measure for such injuries involve reducing the level of violence in our society," it stated.
In the month of May, when 16-year-old Hamid, a resident of Palhallan lost his eyesight after he was hit by the 'non-lethal weapon' piercing his skull with more than 100 holes, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) had also expressed shock over unabated use of pellet guns causing loss of lives and rendering many civilians blind. A senior doctor, on the condition of anonymity, tells iamin that the lethality of pellets is self-evident. "Anyone can go through the cases of victims maimed by pellet injuries. It disables them for a lifetime," he shares.
Human Rights Lawyer Shahid A Ronga believes that the use of pellet guns in quelling youth is already a violation of international law including United Nation's 'basic principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials'. "The use of pellets comes with disproportionate use of force which makes it totally illegitimate. Despite that, the pellets have an inherent quality of inaccuracy and it can hit anybody on street," he mentions adding that it has been proven lethal since its use.
'Only highly trained policemen fire pellets'
In October 2013, the state high court had permitted the use of pellet guns in controlling protests after a PIL filed against the use was termed as 'devoid of merit.
When iamin asked IGP Javed Gillani regarding the regulation of pellets in curbing protests, he assured, "Only highly trained policeman fire pellets and it is already regulated.”
It's a constant struggle for Sahil from here...
Even as Sahil is struggling with his eyesight, what bothers him and his family further is the continuous surveillance from police department. "If he is discharged from hospital, they will arrest him for being a part of protests which he was not," Zahoor Ahmad says. Sahil has been prescribed an hourly treatment of medicine and eye drops until he goes through surgery. However, his family is afraid that if he is arrested, his condition may worsen.
At present, the doctors at SMHS are not sure about the damage inflicted to Sahil by pellets. According to them, the teenager's vision is badly damaged as two pellet balls are stuck inside his left eyeball and the metallic balls will remain inside forever, doctors say.
HOD Opthalmology, Dr Junaid Wani, explains that Sahil's extra ocular muscles of his eye, responsible for eye movement, have burnt due to the high velocity pellets. He has also suffered injuries on his legs, chest, face and shoulders. "The pellets have damaged his eyes and can not be removed from extra ocular muscles. His nerves and retina are fine and will need a surgery to recover but only after a week's time," Dr Wani underlines.
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