Shopian: On the city outskirts of Bemina, Muharram mourners never imagined to be hospitalised on the day they were mourning and commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and his companions.
Mir Suhail, one of the persons who was injured, is writhing in pain at the ophthalmology ward of SMHS Hospital. He has multiple pellets lodged in his left eye and can barely see. According to his prescription, he has undergone surgery in the eye and has to undergo more in the coming days.
“I have forty pellets inside my eye,” Suhail told Kashmir Reader. “This happened for the first time in my life. I was part of the procession which was following all the procedures of preventing COVID 19. We maintained distance and were wearing masks but still we were attacked.”
He recalled that on Saturday afternoon, he was part of the procession which was taken out from Hamdaniya colony towards
Goripora area, barely a kilometre away, and the procession was scheduled to be culminated there. As the procession began to proceed, he said, a police party stopped them. The people began to negotiate with police for passage ahead.
“They agreed to allow us through another route. We agreed and moved. As soon as we began to move, police first burst tear smoke shells, then followed it by pellet firing. It hit me, too. I wonder if they planned to attack us in the name of Covid-19 prevention. We were taken to hospital,” Suhail said.
According to Suhail it was for the first time that the procession was not allowed in the area, unlike in the main city where it has been prohibited for many years. The 18-year-old student termed it ‘oppression”.
Opposite to him on the hospital bed is Class 10 student Tanveer, who was hit by pellets in the same procession. Burhan Ahmad, his friend and an eyewitness, told Kashmir Reader that there was no stone pelting and it was a peaceful procession.
“What on earth shall we trust? We are not even being allowed to perform our religious activities. If the police wanted to prevent us from gathering as a COVID 19 prevention protocol, how was it achieved by injuring us? Muslims attacking Muslims for observing religious acts is painful and heartbreaking,” Burhan said.
A senior doctor of the Ophthalmology department at SMHS Hospital, pleading anonymity, told Kashmir Reader that they received four people hit by pellets in the eye. One among them has grievous injuries as both his eyes are damaged, the doctor said.
“It will be a miracle if he will be able to see. His retina is damaged. The rest of the three have injuries in one eye and their chances of recovery are bright,” said the doctor.
The name of the doctor is not mentioned because of the administration’s gag order on speaking to the media.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz