Unarmed Kashmiris who choose the option of peaceful protest to demand political rights face extra-judicial killings, illegal detentions and house arrests, gang rapes, student expulsions and beatings at Indian colleges, targeted killings of young men, and enforced disappearances by Indian occupation forces.
On 21st May 2015, 16-year-old Hamid Nazir Bhat casually took part in a peaceful protest against Indian military presence in Raipora Palhalan, District Baramula. The activity included sloganeering and carrying placards.
What was the Indian occupation police response?
Here is the report of The Hindu, one of India’s largest daily newspapers, posted on 25th May 2015, and titled, ‘Police Pellets Blind a Kashmir Teen’:
“Hamid Nazir Bhat, 16, has lost vision in his right eye pierced by pellets, and nearly a hundred of these tiny iron balls have pierced his skull, jaws, lips, nose, and brain. The police fired them during a protest in his village, Palhalan, in north Kashmir on Thursday.”