The Omar Abdullah government on Tuesday said all those buried were foreign militants who were operating under code names.
Giving a new twist to unmarked graves issue, the Omar Abdullah government on Tuesday said all those buried were foreign militants who were operating under code names.
“The identity of (slain) foreign terrorists and those (slain local ultras) who did not belong to the areas where engagements with security forces took place remains problem and hence categorised unidentified persons. However, it is clear beyond doubt all those killed were combatants. In all the incidents, the bodies of the slain militants, who were locals and identified were handed over to legal heir for last rites”, under secretary of the J&K home department said a in a letter to the State Human Rights Commission.
The government response came in the case filed by International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir and Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons in SHRC claiming the existence of 2,717 unmarked graves in Poonch and 1,127 unmarked graves in Rajouri districts in Jammu.
J&K government, however, said 3,431 militants were killed Poonch and Rajouri, of whom 2,080 were unidentified and 1,351 identified.
“The bodies of terrorists who were not identified were handed over to local Auquaf or respectable of the locality for burial. The police could not prepare and maintain the identification profile of the slain as these ultras were operating in the area other than their native place and most of them were foreign terrorists operating under a code name”, said the under secretary.
The government said an impression is being created that unidentified bodies have been buried in unmarked graves ignoring the fact that there is no tradition in rural areas to fix any epitaph alongside the graves revealing their identity.
The government has also rubbished the claims that the people disappeared in custody might have been buried in these graves. “It needs to be noted while hundreds of youth are still in Pakistan, their mentors are crying hoarse and deliberately accusing the state apparatus for their forcible disappearance”, he said.
Human Right groups have termed the government contention as confusing.
“On one side they say those buried are unidentified people, but on the other they say they are foreign militants. How can they say they are unidentified and also say they are foreigners”, said Khurram Parvez, programme coordinator J&K Coalition of Civil Society.
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