A 12-day-old toddler, whose abdomen was punctured and intestines were exposed due to splinter injuries of a mortar shell, succumbed in the wee hours of Monday in district hospital Poonch.
The infant probably became the youngest Indian to have lost his life after receiving fatal injuries amid escalating tensions between the
Indian and Pakistani armies in the region. The toddler was among three civilians who were injured in the intense mortar shelling initiated by the Pakistan army along the line of control in Shahpur area of Poonch on Sunday evening.
The family was handed over the death certificate
even before they could register his name and prepare his birth certificate. The minor child was hit by splinter injuries while his mother, Fatima Jaan, was holding him in her lap inside one of the rooms of her house.
Interestingly, time lines of kashmiri politicians, celebrities, bollywood glitterati remained mute. Few others, posed direct questions to popular Kashmiri politicians over their muted silence even as they were busy ranting their anger over increasing foot prints of central paramilitary forces in the Kashmir valley.
Speaking to The Pioneer in Jammu, Mohd Qasim, father of a minor child, said, “when firing started in the forward areas of Shahpur on Sunday afternoon he along with his family took shelter inside one of the rooms of their home. Minutes later, a mortar shell landed outside the main door of our house in which my wife Fatima Jaan, my 12 day old son and Mohd Arif, another villager, received splinter injuries”. He said the mortar shell splinters had penetrated the windows and walls of their house causing maximum damage inside the room.
Mohd Qasim said, “as they bled profusely, no help came forward for about one hour”. He alone was not in a condition to shift the injured to the nearby hospital all alone.
After about one and half hour, Mohd Arif,also camping there, informed his family and others in the area about their fatal injuries. In response to their SOS calls, a group of villagers took risk and braved barrage of bullets and mortar shells to shift them to the main road from where they were ferried to the district hospital in Poonch.
After providing immediate medical treatment, both Fatima Jaan and Mohd Arif, a Sumo driver, were referred to Govt Medical College Hospital in Jammu by the doctors while the minor child was kept under observation in the wake of his critical condition.
Munir Hussain, grand father of the minor child said, “my grandson succumbed in the wee hours and early morning he was buried as per their religious traditions by the family members in Poonch. In GMC, the injured residents suffered for long hours before they were provided with the medical treatment and later shifted to the recovery ward.
Fatima Jaan, was still not aware that she has lost her beloved son in the ceasefire violation by Pakistan army. “I have not informed her about our loss. She is going to be operated upon by the doctors in the evening”, Mohd Qasim added.