Stop using pellet guns

Pellet guns have no place in law enforcement and should be banned immediately, human rights group Amnesty International India has said, following the death of a third person owing to injuries inflicted by the weapons in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Earlier this week, a 20-year-old lost his life as 360 pellets were pumped into him. Two others have reportedly died from pellet injuries as well, reports NDTV.

Pellet guns were introduced as a non-lethal alternative after the 2010 Kashmir unrest, when 120 people died as stone-throwing mobs took to the streets.

For 2016, the abiding picture will be blinded eyes.

Amnesty's comments come a week after the Indian government promised to set up a panel to investigate the use of pellet guns as a method of crowd control in the region.

Since July 8, at least 54 people have been killed and hundreds injured as Indian security forces and protesters faced off and the tensions show little sign of abating.

Parts of Kashmir are still under curfew as protests and violence rock the Kashmir valley, almost a month after security forces killed rebel leader Burhan Wani and two other fighters in southern Kashmir.

Medical officials estimate that up to 100 people will lose the use of at least one eye after suffering injuries to the face owing to riot police using pellet guns to quell protests.

Amnesty said that the Jammu and Kashmir government should immediately stop using the weapons.

"Pellet guns are inherently inaccurate and indiscriminate, and have no place in law enforcement," Zahoor Wani, senior campaigner of Amnesty International India, said.

Organisers of the campaign "Kashmir Blind Spot" have urged people around the world to write to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and promote the issue on social media.

"We are trying to draw attention to the Kashmir story. We feel that Kashmir has become a blind spot and the world has lost its sight when it comes to our story," Khurram Parvez of JKCCS said.   

On July 13, a doctor at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, in Srinagar, told Al Jazeera that his department had been overwhelmed by patients with eye injuries.

"We have operated on more than 90 people with injuries to their eyes. Many have multiple injuries with pellets lodged inside their eyes, forehead, back and abdomen. Many need multiple operations. It is very painful and gruesome," he said.