ISLAMABAD: World youngest pellet victim Hiba Nisar who was injured in the right eye during pellet firing by the Indian forces on November 25 last year, is battling to regain her sight.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Hiba Nisar’s parents say there has been no recovery yet as Hiba is still unable to see from the eye that sustained the pellet wound. Her family members in an interview in Srinagar said that the doctors had advised them that she would have to undergo another surgery next month (around April 10), after which they hope she may regain the eye’s sight.
Hiba was just 19-month-old when she was injured outside her home when Indian forces started a cordon and search operation in neighbouring village Batgund.
Nisar Ahmad Butt, the father of Hiba, said that all he can do now is pray and provide the best available treatment to his daughter. “I have trust in the doctors who are treating my daughter. They have given me the surety that she will regain her eyesight,” he said. He added that he had been about to consult doctors outside the valley, but the doctors at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital didn’t allow him to, saying that she was under the best treatment in the valley instead.
Nisar said that the family takes her for a check-up once or twice a week but have not seen any positive sign till now. “They may operate upon her eye next month, and she had earlier undergone two surgeries at SMHS Srinagar,” he said.
Hiba’s grandfather, Abdul Ahad Butt, narrated the incidents of the day of the operation. “There was a huge cordon, but we were not aware that some forces’ men had laid an ambush outside our house. They were hiding behind a small tin fence as my daughter-in-law went outside carrying her daughter. When they fired a pellet cartridge at her, Hiba’s mother put her hand over the child’s face. Her hand and back also sustained injuries, but despite that, a pellet hit Hiba’s right eye deep, causing major damage. Till date, she is not able to see from that eye.”
