Youngest pellet Kashmir's victim may not regain sight

Agencies
November 27, 2018

Srinagar, Nov 27: Eighteen-month-old Hiba Nisar, the youngest pellet victim in Kashmir, has been discharged from hospital after surgery on her right eye but doctors are not sure if her eyesight will be restored completely.

Hiba was playing inside her house in Shopian when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the wake of an encounter where six militants were killed on Sunday, the infant's mother Marsala Jan said.

"The encounter site is quite far from our house but clashes broke out in our neighbourhood. First, there was tear smoke all around us which caused coughing in Hiba and then there was a sudden bang. My daughter was hit in the eye by a pellet fired towards our home," Jan said.

Doctors at the SMHS Hospital here said Hiba underwent surgery as she had suffered corneal perforation, an anomaly in the cornea resulting from damage to the corneal surface, due to the pellets.

"Like most cases, the kid will be able to see but there is no guarantee that her eyesight will be restored completely," the doctor, who treated Hiba, told PTI.

The doctor said the treatment is a long drawn process and Hiba's parents will have to take a lot of precautions to ensure that she does not get any complications.

"She will have to be brought here for follow-up treatment regularly. Her first appointment is next week," the ophthalmologist said.

Two human rights activists have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to take cognisance of Hiba's injury.

In their plea before the rights body, the activists – Syed Mujtaba Hussian and Mirza Jahanzeb Beg – have sought Rs 10 lakh compensation to the victim.

They also sought an independent investigation into the incident and action against the personnel involved in the firing of pellets.

Thousands of Kashmiris have been injured due to the use of pellet guns as a crowd control non-lethal weapon by security forces during law and order situations.

While few deaths have been reported due to use of pellets, a large number of injured persons have lost eyesight in one or both eyes, leading to demands from various quarters to discontinue the use of this weapon for law and order situations.

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News Network
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday responded to Union home minister Amit Shah’s charge that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is not facilitating the movement of stranded migrant workers.

Amit Shah has written to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, saying her government is doing “injustice” to migrant workers by not allowing the special Shramik trains to reach the state.

“Union home minister Amit Shah speaks after weeks of silence only to mislead people with lies,” the TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“The Centre is lying… West Bengal is running 711 camps for migrants in the state. We are taking good care of them,” Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the chief minister’s nephew, said.

Amit Shah had pointed out in his letter that the Centre was not receiving the “expected support” from the state government in helping stranded migrant workers from West Bengal.

“West Bengal government is not allowing trains with migrants reaching the state. This is injustice with WB migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” Amit Shah had said in his letter to Mamata Banerjee.

The issue of migrant workers is the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the West Bengal government amid a row over the state’s efforts to control the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The Centre and the state have exchanged allegations over the criteria for reporting deaths from the infection, and while While Bengal says the Centre is trying to politicise a public health crisis, the Union government maintains that state officials are ignoring repeated warnings to step up the fight against the disease.

Federal officials have said that the region has not conducted adequate tests and that there has been mismanagement over identifying hotspots and containing them.

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla also slammed the state government for a very low rate of testing and high rate of mortality, 13.2%, by far the highest for any state.

The Centre has also accused the state government of not allowing cross-border movement of goods trucks to Bangladesh.

There are 1,678 Covid-19 cases and 160 deaths in West Bengal until Saturday morning.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday met JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh here at Kerala House on Saturday.

This meeting comes at the backdrop masked mob violence by miscreants who entered the university campus recently and attacked the students and professors with sticks and rods.

"I thank the Kerela government for standing by us and extending solidarity. Its fight Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) shows how standing is standing for its secular ethos. Students Union takes the inspiration from this struggle," said Students' Union President in a statement after meeting Kerala CM.

She also thanked "the youth and comrades of Kerela" and quoted Pinarayi as saying, "go on we will take this fight ahead."

More than 30 students, including Ghosh, were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

The Delhi Police Crime Branch investigating the case of violence in JNU had identified and released photographs of nine suspects, including that of Aishe Ghosh.

Earlier on Monday, Kerala CM had said that the "Nazi-style attack" on the students and faculty is an appalling display of intolerance running amok.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Hyderabad, Jul 12: Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday condemned the demolition of a mosque and a temple inside the Secretariat building. He demanded the arrest of the contractor for demolition.
"During the process of demolition of the Secretariat building in Telangana, the mosque and temple were also demolished. The contractor must be booked and should be arrested. The public should know that we condemn this," he said while speaking to news agency.
Pointing out that his party MLAs Akbaruddin Owaisi and Moazam Khan have urged the state Assembly to look into the matter, he added, "We are not against the building of a new Secretariat, but what we asked for is not to destroy these structures during the process."
He welcomed the Chief Minister's announcement regarding the rebuilding of these structures.
"We expect the mosque to be built in the exact same place where it once stood. We expect the Chief Minister to speak to the representatives and meet our expectations and emotions about the mosque," he added.

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