Pellet Injuries Leave 100s Blind As Bangladesh Faces Civil Unrest

APP

Dhaka: Nearly 600 people have lost some degree of vision due to shotgun pellets during the civil unrest against Hasina’s regime, with 20 individuals completely blind, reported National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIOH).

Hundreds more are receiving treatment at smaller hospitals across Dhaka.

20-year-old student Omar Faruq dreams of a brighter future for his country, Bangladesh, but after police fired rubber pellets at him during student-led protests, all he can see is darkness.

“I was hit by pellets all over—my nose, eyes, everywhere—from close range,” said Faruq, who had hitch-hiked 200 kilometres from Bogura to join the protests in Dhaka. Now, he is receiving treatment at the NIOH, Bangladesh’s largest eye care facility.

“We were performing up to 10 surgeries at a time,” said NIOH Acting Director Mohammad Abdul Qadir, adding that “we have never encountered such a situation before.”

In the weeks leading up to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, more than 450 people were killed—many by police gunfire. Among the victims were dozens of protesters who lost their vision, either partially or entirely, due to the rubber or plastic pellets fired by security forces in an attempt to crush the uprising.

Disproportionate Force

Rights groups have condemned the use of pellets for crowd control, particularly against unarmed protesters, due to the indiscriminate nature of the cluster shots. The US-based Physicians for Human Rights described their use as “inherently inaccurate” and potentially “lethal to humans at close range”.

Last week, the United Nations indicated that Bangladeshi security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force and announced plans to send a team to Dhaka to investigate.

At NIOH, the wards are filled with protesters suffering from impaired vision. One patient, 34-year-old Mohammad Abdul Alim, lay in his hospital bed in agony, with several pellets still embedded in his body and his left eye swollen and bloodshot. “Sometimes I wish I could just cut off the left side of my face,” Alim said, his voice thick with pain. An X-ray of Alim’s skull revealed dozens of pellets lodged in his head.

Alim recounted how police gave protesters just 20 seconds to disperse before unleashing a barrage of pellets, causing scores of people to “immediately collapse”.

Alim, like many others, hopes the new interim administration will help with their medical treatment. Yunus’s government has pledged to set up a foundation to support the wounded and the families of those who were killed or injured in the protests.

“We can never forget the contributions of the students and people who sacrificed their lives and who were grievously wounded while participating in the protests against the dictatorship,” Yunus said in a statement. He vowed to take whatever steps are needed to care for the wounded and the bereaved families.

But for now, many of the injured have only their families to rely on. In another ward at NIOH, Nazrul Islam stroked the hair of his younger brother, Rahmatullah Sardar Shabbir, who lost vision in his left eye after being struck by pellets on August 4.

Despite the pain and the loss, law student Shabbir said he has no regrets. “It is a sacrifice for my country,” he said, a Bangladeshi flag draped above his bed. “We have created a new Bangladesh.”