Eight-year-old Asif of Khanabal is the youngest among the patients at SMHS hospital who are being treated for pellet injuries. Asif was hit by pellets on Tuesday evening, outside his home. A surgery was performed on Asif’s right eye on Wednesday. His father is yet to know if his son would regain eyesight. The patient on the bed next to Asif’s says that the previous night he asked the boy if he would pick up an AK-47 to take revenge. An indignant Asif replied, “Bah! I will pick up an AK-4700!”
The Class 5 student, his one eye swathed in bandage, takes a look at the photograph of Bipasha Basu in an empty wallet that comes preloaded with photographs of celebrities. His neighbor ribs him over it. Asif retorts, “Bah! I will keep a photo of Burhan and mine in this wallet.”
The feisty Asif himself narrates how a hail of pellets hit him on his face. The pockmarks of pellets are visible all over his body and arms. “I was walking along with my friends in the neighborhood. Suddenly, something hit my face.”
Asif said he covered his face with both hands and then was terrified to see that his hands were soaked in blood.
“I cried, but nobody was around. A man came and took me to a nearby hospital on a scooter,” Asif said.
His parents were unaware of the injury to their son. They learnt of it only when Asif was already in hospital. Asif shows the pellets marks on his body and shoulders. He says, “I feel pain in my left arm and cannot move it.”