YEARS AFTER A PELLET BOMB BLINDED HER, INSHA MUSHTAQ HAS LITTLE TOLERANCE FOR EMPTY GESTURES

Insha Mushtaq. [Photo: Rifat Fareed/Al Jazeera]

Wed 14 June 2023:

Sedow (Shopian, J&K): Insha Mushtaq gave out a sigh of unease when a reporter walked into the mud-plastered room with a mic in one hand and a mobile phone in the other.

“No more, please. I am very tired now. I want to rest a little,” she said in a hushed tone to her mother who insisted she sit down.

The 23-year-old, who was blinded during the 2016 Kashmir protests, when a pellet bomb cracked open her skull, is once again in focus.

On Friday, June 9, when Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education declared the results of the class 12 exam, Insha found she had passed with a ‘Grade A’ mark.

Despite being blind, Insha scored an impressive 73% in the Arts stream, bringing the life of the girl, who became the face of excesses by security forces on Kashmiri protesters, in the spotlight yet again.

Since the results came out, her two-storey, rundown home in Sedow village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district has been flooded with journalists who are eager to know the story behind her remarkable feat.

The house in Sedow village of Shopian where Insha lives with her siblings and parents, as well as their uncles, aunts and cousins. Photo: Jehangir Ali

The reporters came in groups of twos and fours. When The Wire reached the house on Saturday, June 10, a local media team was speaking with Insha and her mother, Afroza Jan, a housewife, on the veranda and another was awaiting their turn. Afroza was holding a box of sweets in her hands, which she offered to the new visitors.

After finishing the interview, the second media team, finding the afternoon light too bright for their mobile camera, requested the mother-daughter to do the shoot inside the house and they obliged.

The cameraperson staged a couple of clips, including one which showed Insha walking into the room with her school bag in her hands. The mother-daughter duo followed the instructions of camerapersons and journalists dutifully.

On cue, they sat down, stood up, walked hand in hand, hugged each other and looked out of the window.

Insha Mushtaq: The #pellet-blinded girl who refused to give up on her dreams and qualified class 12th exams pic.twitter.com/MWZibDDcNa

— TRK News (@trk_media) June 10, 2023

A setback

Afroza was delighted by it all continued offering sweets to new visitors. Having seen firsthand her daughter’s sufferings over the last seven years, it was time for her to be happy. She said that so great were the trials that there were moments when she thought that it would have been better had her daughter died that day.

“Without eyesight, a human being is left to a terrible fate. Whenever she faces a rejection, it makes me cry. I try to comfort her. What more can I do? I did not want her to feel abandoned after she lost her eyes,” she said.

“Her blindness has dug a hole in my heart. Even if she becomes an officer, she will never be the same,” added Afroza.

Afroza, the mother of Insha Mushtaq. Photo: Jehangir Ali.

Insha realised that she had lost eyesight when her father, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, a driver, was conversing with a doctor, some weeks after security forces fired a pellet bomb into their home in Sedow village on July 11, 2016. The pellet hit her skull.

That year, Kashmir convulsed in a wave of protests that had broken out in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. More than 100 protesters were killed and thousands were injured across Kashmir.

The indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by security forces led to an “epidemic of dead eyes”. Hundreds of protesters suffered injuries by pellet bombs and at least 1,200 suffered injuries in one or both eyes. Insha was not among the protesters when she was injured, according to police and witnesses.

A doctor who treated the young girl, then 16, said that her left eye was pulverised by the impact of the explosion while the nerves and arteries connecting her right eye were severed, pushing her into a world of eternal darkness.

“Her skull had suffered several fractures. It took four corrective surgeries and many skin grafts to partially restore the shape of her face. She has been through a lot of agony,” the doctor, who didn’t want to be named, said.

A fight

However, Insha’s pain and tragic condition didn’t stop her from continuing her education. Two years after she was injured, she cracked the class 10 exam with the aid of a helper. A year later, she enrolled in a course for learning the Braille writing system which has become a lifeline in her journey towards higher education.

“I want to continue my studies. That is my only ticket to independence,” Insha, who has two younger siblings, told The Wire.

The suffering and the struggle has made Insha even more determined to pursue her dream. “I clean my room and wash my clothes myself. I want to live an independent life. I don’t want to become dependent on anyone,” she said.

Insha’s journey with Braille have been a bit difficult. She said she needed a better trainer but has been unable to find one so far. While she needs a helper to write her papers, finding a trainer may actually go a long way in easing roadblocks in her education.

“I have to feel the letter with my fingers and join them which slows down the reading. Sometimes I record the lessons and memorise them. I have also brought a new computer. I want to crack the civil service exam and help my society and especially those like me who can’t see,” Insha said.

However, for the time being, though, she is a little tired.

As reporters walked in and out of the door, she started to respond emotionlessly to the same set of questions about her struggle over the last seven years. ‘How does she feel’, ‘who gets credits for her success’, ‘what does she want to become’ and so on.

A young man claiming to be a worker of the president of a prominent Kashmir-based political party walked into the room. He addressed Insha directly, lecturing her on why she should not lose hope, telling her that her struggle is an inspiration to many and that the whole of Kashmir was celebrating her success.

“ABC saheb (the party president) is coming to Shopian tomorrow. Would you come down and attend the function? We will see what we can do. We will ensure that you get admission in the best college of the country,” he told Insha confidently.

“I have met home ministry officials, what will ABC saheb do?,” Insha retorted. “I have met the LG (J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha) and other senior officials.”

She continued: “In these years, I have seen a lot of hardships. When I lost my eyesight, politicians promised to turn the mountains upside down for me. But when I needed their help, there was no one.”

The young man fell silent. Then, after a brief moment, he stood up and left the room, leaving a big smile on Insha’s face.

-The Wire

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