13, including little girls, hurt in eyes with pellets, 2 blinded
The ongoing turmoil has claimed lives of seven women and injured hundreds more, some grievously. While most of these women became victims of violence while they were in the confines of their homes, away from the protests, the toll on their lives is huge.
In the past three months, women have also borne the brunt of forces’ action with seven of them losing life and many still struggling to recuperate from their injuries.
On the very first day of protests on July 9, the 21-year-old Yasmina Akhtar became one of the first casualties. She, according to her family, was killed when forces fired upon her while she tried to free her younger brother from their clutches.
A week later, on July 18, forces fired ‘indiscriminately’ on bystanders while they were passing by, killing two persons on spot and injuring seven others at Qazigund, according to witnesses. Among the killed was 45-year-old Nabiza Begum, who was also known as Saida, a resident of Churath, Qazigund. Among the injured was another woman, Neelofer Jan, 25. A few hours later, she succumbed to her injuries at SKIMS.
Not just bullets, but the terror of forces’ action has also been responsible for deaths of women. On August 11, Jameela Khan, a 60-year-old Srinagar woman suffered cardiac arrest when she opened the window of her house and a security man outside pointed his gun towards her, her husband reported.
Another woman, Sara Begum, from Chee Anantnag died in the same manner when forces barged into her house around midnight, with only her two young daughters around, on October 1. “There was no male in our house and the forces smashed the doors with rocks and boulders,” her family reported. She was 66.
Teenager Khushboo Jan also died due to cardiac arrest when forces lobbed teargas shells around her locality in Gadafpora Shopian on September 19. Witnesses reported “Khusboo starting running when she heard bangs of tear grenades fired one after the other. She collapsed and fell down with blood oozing from her nose and mouth.” The Class 7 student had gone looking for her father and brother when the incident took place.
A young woman from Srinagar, Foziya Sidiq, lost her life when a vehicle speeding in reverse gear from a spot where clashes were taking place hit her while she was out for morning walk with her sister. The 22-year-old died on spot while her sister was injured critically.
Apart from the lives lost, many women have been injured critically in the past 100 days of anti-India uprising triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. Doctors from peripheral hospitals said hundreds of women have been treated for firearm injuries during the period. The intensity of injuries suffered by women can be gauged from the fact that 97 of them landed at General Specialty SMHS Hospital.
Records revealed that as many as 13 women had been hit in eyes with pellets, with two of them suffering injuries in both eyes.
Insha Mushtaq, 14-year-old Shopian girl who was hit by an entire cartridge of pellets when she was inside her home has been rendered totally blind by the injury. Shakeela, 35-year-old divorcee, who was injured by pellets when she went looking for her five-year-old son, was reportedly fired upon in a lonely lane, just outside her home.
The heart-rending images of little girls injured by pellets in eyes, have been quite frequent in the past few months, the youngest victim being four-year-old Barena from Srinagar.
Apart from eye-injuries, many women with bullet and pellet injuries in parts of body other than eyes have been admitted during the past 99 days. Some have suffered damage in vital organs and are confined to bed, even after months of injury. Shameema Akhtar, 19-year-old girl from Arwani Bijbehara has suffered paralysis spine below due to a bullet injury when she was coming back from her fields.
Many women have also suffered disabling fractures due to bullet and pellet injuries.
Doctors at SMHS Hospital said that the injuries caused by pellets caused visual impairment irrespective of gender in the victims but the toll of psyche of females was far greater.
“We have women and little girls who are looking at disabilities, who are bed-ridden, who are losing vision in eye(s). This needs to be addressed by the society and by doctors,” a senior doctor said.
