Srinagar, February 08, 2018 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, the 14-year-old Umar Nazir in a Pulwama village is unable to move around without assistance. Umar Nazir was in class 8 when pellets fired by the Indian forces’ personnel blinded both his eyes. Although, the Disability Board at the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar has certified that Umar has disability of 100 percent. Yet he has not received any compensation from the puppet authorities.
Unable to see, Umar has never gone back to school since his injury in 2016. But he is not the lone case. Scores of pellet victims, blinded to the extent that they cannot even count fingers, have received no assistance from the puppet regime.
Muhammad Ashraf Wani, a pellet victim, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Pellet Victims Welfare Association, in a media interview in Srinagar said that the pellet victims were forced to sell their land, if they had any, or to borrow and beg to bear the costs of treatment.
“Even after half a dozen surgeries, we have details of at least 90 pellet victims, who have 90-100 percent disability. These people are not even in a position to leave their house without someone holding their hand but the authorities have done nothing for them,” he added. Wani’s assertions are seconded by scores of pellet victims who spoke to media. “Due to the disability, we are neither able to continue studies, nor get involved in some economic activity,” said Nasir Mir, a 17-year-old pellet victim from Pattan area of Baramulla.
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