After getting a hostile reception at SMHS hospital, a delegation of prominent civil society members who had gone to meet the persons injured by government forces Wednesday termed the anger of people in Kashmir valley as genuine.
The delegation comprising Congress MP, Mani Shankar Aiyer, veteran journalist Prem Shankar Jha, Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak and others are on a two-day visit to Kashmir.
“We were expecting this. They are angry with the Indian government and they vented it on us. We will not blame anyone or say that this was sponsored,” spokesperson of the delegation said while referring to the angry reaction of the people at the hospital who raised anti-Indian slogans and asked the delegation to leave the hospital.
“The delegation had gone to see patients who have been hit with deadly pellets guns. But after the anger subsided, people allowed us to talk to them. The patients narrated how they were maimed and blinded by the forces,” he added.
A doctor at SMHS hospital, on the condition of anonymity, said the delegation had gone to see the patients at the ophthalmology ward where majority of the pellets victims are admitted. “But the volunteers working outside the ophthalmology ward didn’t allow the delegation to meet the patients and started raising anti-Indian slogans,” he said.
“Patients and the attendants also maintained distance from the delegation. Though a few journalists who were part of the delegation spoke to some attendants, but Prem Shankar Jha and Mani Shankar Aiyer left the hospital in a jiffy to avoid any trouble,” the doctor added.