Wounded Kashmiris blocked from medical help during clashes

Physicians for Human Rights says Indian forces fired at ambulances, held up emergency vehicles .

NEW DELHI: Security forces in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) blocked medical care for injured protesters by firing on ambulances, holding up emergency vehicles and preying on hospital patients during clashes in the restive region this year, a health rights group said on Tuesday.

At least 80 civilians were killed and more than 10,000 wounded in almost five months of clashes between protesters and security forces, sparked by the extrajudicial killing of a leading separatist militant, Burhan Wani, by army and police on July 8.



The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said not only did police and paramilitary forces use excessive force during the unrest; they also delayed wounded people seeking medical attention, increasing the likelihood of permanent injuries and deaths.

“Such delays in care are violations of the longstanding protections afforded to medical workers and facilities in times of conflict and civil unrest,” said Widney Brown, director of programs for PHR, a New York-headquartered advocacy group.

“What’s more, the doctors we interviewed said police were present in their hospitals, intimidating patients and monitoring those being admitted.”

The report also said security forces harassed medical workers attempting to treat protesters and prevented doctors from reaching the hospitals where they work.

Police in Kashmir said they would respond to the allegations once they had studied the PHR report.

The unrest is the worst in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region for six years, and critics accuse Indian security forces of heavy-handedness in quelling the protests. Many of those killed in the clashes died from shotgun pellets or rifle bullets fired by police and paramilitary troops.



Hundreds of bystanders were blinded by the pellet rounds, the report said.

While Indian authorities say the use of such weapons was meant to reduce the potential for injuries or fatalities, PHR found that their use actually caused serious injury and death.

PHR’s report - based on hospital records and interviews with doctors, witnesses and victims - found police used 12-gauge shotguns loaded with metal pellets that directly caused an estimated 5,200 injuries and at least a dozen deaths.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2016.