Pellet victims face identity crisis Do not mislead people of J&K on Article 35 (A), says BJP
FALLOUT Protesters who gave fake names at hospitals to avoid harassment now run from pillar to post to correct them for benefits
Bilal*, a youth from strife-torn south Kashmir, was hit by pellets during the summer unrest in the Valley last year. A bleeding Bilal was rushed to the nearest government hospital from where he was referred to Srinagar. With pro-azadi sentiments running high among the youth at that time, Bilal got himself registered as “Burhan” in the hospital.
But today, a partially-blind Bilal is at his wit’s end to prove his real identity in order to avail the compensation announced by the state government. He has to convince officials that it was indeed he (Bilal) who was hit by pellets that day, and not some fictitious Burhan.
The large-scale protests that broke out last summer following the gunning down of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani saw scores of stone-pelting youth receiving pellet injuries in retaliatory action by security forces. Most of these victims or their attendants did not enter their real identities in the hospital records to avoid “harassment” by police.
Now when the government is trying to compile the list of victims eligible for compensation, the wrong names and addresses are proving a hurdle for the “beneficiaries”.
A senior official on condition of anonymity said that since the government was keen on compensating the victims, thorough verification of their identities and hospital records would be done before their names on the list.
The committee that is looking into the issue has had three-four meetings and they have noticed “a few cases” of mistaken identity, a source said. However, a report in a local English daily put the number of such cases received till now at 27.
Hospital authorities said there were two reasons for some victims faking their identities — one, the fear of possible arrest, and two, often bleeding and unconscious pellet victims were brought to hospitals by members of the public who did not know them and may have entered dummy names to speed up the process.
“Most of us feared arrest because according to the state all such victims are protesters and stone-pelters,” said a 17-year-old pellet victim from Pulwama district who was blinded in one eye.
In January this year, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had said “job opportunities would be made available to persons who lost their eyesight during the crisis” and “arrangements for education at Delhi and other places would be made for students whose eyesight got affected during the turmoil”.
As of now, it is not clear what kind of jobs the government is planning to offer the pellet victims. Data from Kashmir’s hospitals show that in the 2016 unrest, over 6,000 people had suffered pellet injuries, with over 1,100 specifically hit in the eyes.
Hospitals across the Valley are receiving requests from pellet victims to set right their injury records. “Yes, many of them are coming to us with affidavits to get their names corrected and we are doing that after proper verification,” said Dr Nazir Chowdary, medical superintendent of Srinagar’s SMHS hospital that treated the largest number of pellet victims during the unrest.
Dr Majeed Mehrab, medical superintendent, district hospital Anantnag, said at least eight such cases have come to light in their hospital. The south Kashmir district was one of the worst hit during the unrest.
Some doctors also point out that given the tedious process to establish true identities of such victims, many are opting to forego the compensation offer.
Despite being a partner of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the BJP on Tuesday said it was firmly of the opinion that opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir were misleading citizens on Article 35(A) and their flimsy claims of how its abrogation could hamper the state’s growth.
On July 28, PDP president and chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, at a function in New Delhi, had said, “If special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir are tinkered with, then there would be no one in the state to hold the Tricolour.”
National Conference president and former CM Farooq Abdullah also said abrogation of article 35(A) is akin to playing with fire and can trigger a bigger revolt across the state than the 2008 Amarnath land row.
However, without naming PDP, the BJP targeted Abdullah and said it believed that time has come to expose the “doublespeak” of these parties.
Arun Kumar Gupta, state BJP spokesperson, said Article 35(A) is an unconstitutional provision of law, finds no place in the Constitution, and is supposed to be in operation without being passed in the Parliament of India.
“It is a great paradox that some article is being discussed in public domain without understanding its legal position. Misleading public on various issues, including the one under discussion, has become routine for NC, Congress and others, but public today is not ready to go by versions which suit their individual constituency,” he said.
Gupta said this provision has done great harm to all three regions of the state by not allowing anybody from other parts of the country to settle here, which results in total isolation and no growth of institutions required to generate employment, revenues, resources and the overall economy of the state.