Pellet horror continues, violence spreads to Jammu

A magistrate, an SSP and three other police officers were among 47 people injured on Friday as stone-pelting incidents spilled over from Kashmir to the Jammu region where violence took place in Doda district.

The violence spread from Kashmir to Jammu region with a mob turning violent after Friday prayers in Doda where some muslim groups had called for a bandh and a protest march in “solidarity” with the people of Kashmir.

“After Friday prayers, a mob turned violent and attacked the police party that was deployed in the town to maintain law and order and started pelting stones on them,” Deputy Inspector General of Police (Doda Range) Nisar Ahmed said, adding 12 people were injured in these.

“A duty magistrate who was there on the duty with the police was hit on head with the stones,” he added.

In the stone-pelting, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Zahid Naeem, SHO Uday Wazir, Sub-Inspector Kulbushan and two other police personnel were also injured.

To disperse the mobs, police used cane charge and lobbed teargas shells, leaving six protesters injured. Despite Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking security forces to avoid the use of pellet guns while dealing with protesters, pellets continue to maim people in Kashmir, DHNS adds.

In the latest incident, a family of eight members, including a teenage girl and a 74-year-old man from Aawora village of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, became the latest victim of the “non-lethal” weapon.

While three members of the family with severe pellet injuries have been admitted to the SMHS hospital in Srinagar, the rest are recuperating in a local hospital in Kupwara.

Parveena, 18, who was referred to the SMHS hospital, was operated upon the injured right eye on Wednesday night. Doctors said Parveena, who runs a boutique in her village, has suffered retinal detachment in her eye and the chances of her regaining vision are bleak.

“I am not able to see anything with my right eye,” Parveena said, lying on the bed in Ward No 7 at the hospital.