Excelsior Correspondent
MENDHAR, Dec 21: A 13-year-old Pak shelling victim hailing from Balakote area, who was undergoing treatment in Govt Medical College Hospital, Jammu since August 15, succumbed to injuries in the ICU of the hospital today.
With this, the number of deaths in Pak shelling in Balakote went up to seven. Earlier, six persons including a Sarpanch and a teacher were killed in Pakistani shelling on Darati village near the LoC in Balakore sector of Mendhar (Poonch) on August 15, 2015.
Identified as Shahnawaz Khan (A student of class 7th), son of Iftihar Ahmed Khan, resident of Darati village near LoC in Balakote, the boy was undergoing treatment in GMC Jammu. Despite the tall claims of State Government and a few Union Ministers during that shelling incident on Indepednece Day in Mendhar in which six civilians were killed and over a dozen injured, no proper attention was given towards the Pak shelling victims.
This poor boy from a very poor and hapless family of Mendhar was not shifted to Chandigarh or Delhi for the specialized treatment by the State Government and was allowed to die in the Jammu hospital.
Iftihar, father of the deceased boy told the Excelsior that not even a single penny was provided to them either by the State or the Union Governments. He said the boy had undergone four surgeries in GMC. Nearly Rs 4.5 lakh was spent on boy’s treatment but he could not be saved. Iftihar further said that he borrowed the money from relatives and some good people of the area also raised contribution and helped him but no assistance was provided by the Government or the District Administration.
He pointed out that many top leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, DyCM Nirmal Singh, Mehbooba Mufti and others visited their place after shelling but they only offered lip sympathy. He said that the then DC had announced Rs 5000 as immediate help from District Red Cross side but it was never disbursed to them by the officers.
Additional DC Poonch, Shafiq Ahmed when contacted however, claimed that all these victims were provided Rs 5000 each as immediate help from Red Cross Society. The DC Poonch, M H Malik, however, claimed that he would hold an inquiry into the matter as during that incident he was placed somewhere else.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
