Following Naikoo’s encounter, 12 civilians hit by pellets in eyes in Army attack

“I don’t know whether I will recover my eyesight.”

Omar Farooq, 23-year-old Kashmiri youth, was hit by metal pellets in both eyes on 6 May 2020.

Farooq was on the way to his home in Beighpora village in Kashmir, where Indian Army personnel killed Riyaz Naikoo, the commander of the militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.

“It has been one week since. My son’s eyelid is still bleeding,” Farooq’s father told Maktoob.

Around 16 civilians were injured in the Army’s attack that followed Naikoo’s death and it lasted for two days.

12 were hit by pellets in their eyes and four had gunshot injuries. All are from Pulwama.

Showkat Ahmad Beigh, a 25-year-old engineering student was also admitted to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) after a pellet hit his left eye.

“The injured lose their partial light or become blind because it is a delicate organ and the damage caused by the pellets affects it badly,” a doctor who works at SMHS said.

14-year-old Sahil Mukhtar was at home and all he did was look out of the window when a pellet hit his left eye. 

“I thought my left eye was hit with a bullet. I cried for help and fell unconscious,” he said.

The class eight student said that  he doe not want to live with this disability.