Young Kashmir man blinded & disfigured by pellet gun: just one of hundreds of victims of India’s occupation

Chalukyan G photo May 15 2015

The photo & story of this young Kashmiri man speaks to the absolute criminality of the occupation & condemns the use of pellet guns that blind, disfigure, disable, cause permanent harm & pain to Kashmiris, including bystanders to protests, children, elderly, those sitting in their homes.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

Thank you to Chalukyan G.

“I’m in Srinagar, Indian occupied Kashmir right now, to attend a wedding of my friend. The wall you see behind the guy, the wedding ceremony is going on behind it. I came out to smoke and asked this young tempo driver for a match box. Looking at my camera he asked me if I could take a portrait. I took a couple of photographs. “I want the background to be blurred”, he said. I did. He wasn’t happy. I am not a professional photographer. And he was busy talking on his friend’s phone to his girl friend. His left eye bothered me. Sensing me looking at his left eye, he said, “it’s gone. Pellet took off my left eye sight”. As I stood speechless, he lifted up his shirt to show how many pellets hit him shot by Indian armed forces. I took this picture and went inside to attend my friend. She, again a victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, a common disorder people of conflict and war zones are affected with) sat there beautifully.”