By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Srinagar: The unabated use of force and pellet guns in Kashmir, which has lead to the death of more than 50 people and injured thousands, has led to Valley-based human rights group Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) initiating a campaign “Messages From A Blind Spot”in an attempt to make the whole world know about the illegal use of pellet shotguns being indiscriminately used by the Indian forces on unarmed civilians in Kashmir.
“Messages from a Blind Spot is a compassionate campaign to remind the international community of the sufferings caused by the aggression of the State in a region where people’s rightful demand to self-determination is trampled under the jackboots with brute force,” the JKCCS campaign says on its website.
JKCCS is an amalgam of various non-funded, non-profit, campaign, research and advocacy organizations based in Srinagar. It is encouraging people to highlight ‘the scourge of the state violence’ by writing to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and sharing the campaign widely on social media.
Terming pellet guns as lethal, the group have found that hundreds have met with grievous injuries including an estimated 300+ with eye-injuries of which an estimated 100+ civilians are partially or totally blinded by pellet shotgun injuries.
“The indiscriminate use of pellet shotguns by its forces has resulted in an estimated 105 civilians being partially or totally blinded. These 12-gauge, pump-action shotguns first put to use during the 2010 uprising are maiming and blinding the unarmed civilians which include kids as young as 5 and elderly as old as eighty.”
Digging further into the matter, JKCCS says that people are fearing profiling and reprisals of injured youths by police. The hospital officials have assigned serial numbers to pellet gun victims to hide their identity from undercover police officers who are roaming the hospitals hunting for injured protesters.
Giving an emotional touch to the campaign, the group has also shared stories along with photographs of the pellet gun victims. They shared one such story of four-year-old Zuhra Majeed, who was hit by pellets in her legs and abdomen after her family was targeted by police outside their home on the outskirts of Srinagar’s Qamarwari on July 10.
The group has further claimed that while dealing with protesters in Kashmir, India has “violated” its own laws in addition to international law, particularly the Geneva Conventions.
“The violence coupled with no immediate sight of a solution has led to growing concern in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly on the limited role of the international community,” the group said.
In addition, a Twitter campaign will also be run on August 6 at 6.30 pm IST to inform people about the loss of life and the use of pellet guns in the Valley.
“Please tweet using #KashmirBlindSpot about loss of life, use of pellets to blind people, continued suffering of the people of Kashmir and a deafening silence from the citizens of the world. It feels like that the people being blinded in Kashmir are in the blind spot of the international community. Let us bring this back into focus,” the campaign said on its Facebook page.