In pictures: 'Pellet guns' maim Kashmir protesters
- Published
Security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir have moved to the use of "pellet guns" - a kind of shotgun - to quell anti-India protests. The army says they are non-lethal but these guns have caused serious injuries to protesters and others, and sometimes even killed them. Photographs: Abid Bhat
The guns pump out hundreds of pellets quickly which can cause widespread injuries across the body.
When aimed higher up the body, they can cause serious eye injuries. This man, who did not want to be named, sustained injuries in his right eye during an incident in 2011 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.
These guns were used extensively during anti-India protests in the summer of 2010. According to a study by Kashmir's leading hospital SK Institute of Medical Sciences (Skims) in Srinagar, pellet injuries killed at least six people and caused injuries to 198 others during the four months of protests.
Five people lost their eyesight after sustaining pellet injuries, the study said, adding that the youngest patient was a six-year-old boy and the oldest a 54-year-old man.
An X-ray of 22-year-old Amir Kabir Beigh's head shows numerous pellets embedded in his skull.
Mr Beigh sustained the injuries during an incident in north Kashmir's Baramulla town in September 2010. He said he was returning home when he was hit by the pellets. He has lost vision in both eyes.
The police and paramilitary forces have been using these guns despite opposition from civil society and human rights groups and Kashmiri separatist leaders.
Faizan Ashraf Tantray, 19, offers prayers at his home in Baramulla town. He says he was hit by a pellet while chatting with his friends in the Old Town area in February 2011. He lost 70% vision in his left eye and covers it with a patch when he goes out.
Mushtaq Ahmad Najar, who lives in Srinagar, said he had gone to buy vegetables from a local market where a minor protest was going on. He sustained injuries in his right eye when the troops began firing. He has lost vision in his right eye.
Street hawker Tariq Ahmad Gojri, 19, lost sight in his right eye due to a pellet injury. Mr Gojri says he sustained the injury last year when he was caught up in a protest when he had gone to fetch milk from a neighbour.