Completely blinded by pellet gun, 15-YO Insha takes her class 10 exams

SRINAGAR: Unfazed by pellet blindness, 15-year-old teenager Insha Mushtaq completes her class 10 state Board Exam on Wednesday.

A pellet victim from Sedow village of south Kashmir, Insha had lost vision, after suffering pellet gun injuries last year in July during a clash between stone-pelters and security forces in Shopian following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in the Valley.

Wearing a maroon pheran and dark goggles, the pellet wound survivor credits her two tuition teachers – Muzaffar Bhat and Naveed Mir who tutored her at her home.

She also thanks the examination helper who was selected by authorities to write her papers on the basis of dictations by Insha.

“My papers have gone well, all thanks to my tuition teachers and my ‘writer’,” she tells Hindustan Times.

“She (the helper) is very cooperative. I can’t read question papers, but she reads them for me,” Insha said, smilingly to local media.

The pellets have ruptured her eyes and darkness overtook her.

“I want to overcome what pellets did to me. I want to be able to take control of my life again,” Insha said.
With no vision at all, the decision to continue studies was a tough one for Insha. Crediting her family for giving her all the confidence to pursue her studies, Insha said that now her only goal is to “study as much as I can.”
“For now, I am just focusing on class 10. I don’t know where and how I will study further, but I know I have to,” Insha told local newspaper.