Pellets, bullets apart, while stones lead to injuries, there were some killings too, reports Saima Bhat
Stones were portrayed as the weapon of the weak. While it is clear that the stone pelting led to a new protective gear for cops to evade injuries, there were instances in which civilians were caught in between and died.
The first casualty due to stone pelting was reported on September 27, when Fozia succumbed to her injuries. Fozia and her sister, Nadia, residents of Gulbagh, had gone for morning walk when a Scorpio, was attacked allegedly by stone pelters. These sisters were hit near Rogan Gali, Parimpora. The driver while reversing hit the girls and fled.
A case, under FIR number 222/16, stands registered in the concerned police station. Police says the accident was triggered by stone pelting.
Same day, Furqan Hamid, son of Zoonimar’s Abdul Hamid was injured when some boys pelted stones on him, while he was riding a Scooty near Aali Masjid Eidgah, Safa Kadal. He received head injury, was shifted to SKIMS Soura and was later reported stable.
Recently on January 06, 2017, Rifat Gulzar, 17, from Kupwara was critically injured in a stone-pelting incident in Sopore’s Seelu village. She was hit by a stone on her head.
Rifat, a resident of Poshpora Trehgam (Kupwara),who admitted in SKIMS Soura, has undergone a major head surgery. That day, on Friday afternoon, Rifat was travelling from Srinagar to Kupwara with her father in a bus. Reportedly when the bus reached Seelu village, it was stopped by youth who had blocked the road.. “Upon being confronted by a group of youth, the bus driver refused to move on. Thus, all of us came down from the bus,” her father said.
Amid snowfall, when the commuters were waiting for another vehicle, a police jeep arrived and youth started pelting stones on it. One stone hit Rifat and she fell unconscious.
It was only after we reached home, three hours later, Rifat was given a first-aid, recalls her father.
Later, Rifat was taken to local hospital where from she was rushed to SMHS in Srinagar. “She has undergone a major head surgery.”
These injuries started pouring into hospital after Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter on July 08, triggering unrest. On July 18, Amir Ahmad was injured at Wanpoh, he was shifted to Srinagar Hospital where he stabilised. Hasina was also injured in Sopore and was hospitalised.
On August 25, a Jammu trucker Anil Kumar was injured when his truck came under an attack of stone pelters at Lawaypora Parimpora Srinagar.
After three days, on August 28, two vehicles (tempo) were attacked by some unidentified people in Uranhall in which 12 people were injured. The injured included: Ravi Kumar, Shamlal, Pawan, Ashok Kumar, Rajinder Kumar, Pawan Singh, Sunil Sharma, Manzoor Hussain, Manjeet Kumar, Purshautam, Ramdas and Daresh Gupta.
On September 09, a tavera driver (name withheld) was injured on his head when his vehicle came under stone pelting attack at Botengo Islamabad.
Another injury was reported on October 18 when Muzaffar Ahmad Khan, a resident of Udhampur, came under attack of some unidentified people, who threw a petrol bomb on a truck at bus stand Qazigund. Khan, a conductor of that truck was injured in the incident.
On October 23, another trucker Muzaffar Ahmad Khanday, 40, received minor injuries when his truck came under an attack of stone pelters near JK Cements Khrew. The injured, son of Mohammad Shaban Khanday, was a resident of Wuyan Pampore.
On October 24, Ashfan Ahmad Mir, 28, a resident of Arunbowa Boniyar, received burn injuries when some unidentified people hurled a petrol bomb on his tipper at Khanpora Barmulla.
On November 22, an unidentified mob attacked a loaded trawler with stones at Srinagar–Jammu Highway, in which Sarika, 03 years old, her uncle, Aqib Ahmad Dar, 26, from Botingoo Islamabad and Zahoor Ahmad Dar, 36, from Bandipora were injured.
Sarika was on her way to Srinagar in her father’s rice-laden trawler with her two primary-school going siblings. When it reached Batengoo in Islamabad, at around 6.30 pm, a flying stone smashed truck’s windscreen and hit her, fracturing her skull bone.
“They suddenly appeared, pelted stones and ran away,” Sarika’s father Showkat Ahmad said. “I had to unload the truck in Srinagar and also drop my children here.” She had a depressed skull fracture with bruised eye and her uncle too had an inflamed eye, with fractured nose and eyebrow.
On November 02, Suhail Ahmad, 14, son of Nazir Ahmad Wagay of Pehru (Islamabad), died of an accident. He was killed when an unknown vehicle hit him near Iqbalabad, in town’s periphery, on the Khanabal-Pahalgam (KP) road during stone pelting incident.
Injured Suhail was shifted to local hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police have registered a case in this regard and started investigations.
On November 03, Tasleema Begam, 45, was injured when some boys hurled stones on the private vehicles plying in Lal Chowk, Islamabad.
Tasleema, wife of Ali Mohammad Sheikh, resident of Seepora Islamabad, was injured on her head.
On December 16, immediately after the culmination of Friday congregational prayers, some youth started pelting stones at Bada Bazaar Sopore, where a passerby Mursaleen Azad Dar, 08, received a stone on his head.
Mursaleen, son of Azad Ahmad Dar resident of Batapora, Sopore, was rushed to hospital where he was treated. The concerned police station have registered a FIR in the accident and started their investigation.
(Note: This piece is part of the series that Saima Bhat wrote about the people who were killed by bullets, pellets or died in circumstances directly linked to unrest 2016.)
