The State Home department in a report on July 2 revealed that
there
are
2,080
unmarked
graves
in Poonch
and
Rajouri
Districts,
according
to Tehelka.
According
to the
report
3,431
militants
have
been
killed
in these
Districts
over
the
past
two
decades
and
of them
2,080
were
unidentified
foreign
militants.
The
report
states
that
the
bodies
of the
militants,
who
were
not
identified,
were
handed
over
to local
residents
who
carried
out
the
burials
according
to religious
rites.
“The
police
could
not
prepare
and
maintain
the
identification
profile
of these
slain
militants
as most
of them
were
foreign
terrorists
and
were
operating
under
code
names”,
stated
the
report.
According
to the
report
identifying
foreign
militants
has
always
been
a problem
in the
counter-insurgency
operations
and
hence
they
are
categorized
as “unidentified
persons”.
“However,
it is
clear
beyond
doubt
that
all
those
killed
were
combatants.
In all
the
incidents,
the
bodies
of the
slain
militants
who
were
locals
were
identified,
and
handed
over
to their
legal
heirs
for
the
final
rites,”
the
report
states.
The
report
was
presented
to the
State
Human
Rights
Commission
(SHRC)
on July
3.
The SHRC in its July 2, 2011, report had confirmed the existence
of 2,156
unmarked
in four
Districts
of the
Valley.
That
report
was
prepared
after
a three-year
inquiry
by an
11-member
team
led
by the
police
wing
of SHRC.
The
SHRC
investigation
had
focused
on the
four
North
Kashmir
Districts
of Baramulla,
Kupwara,
Handwara
and
Bandipora.
In September
2011,
the
SHRC
admitted
an application
by the
Association
of Parents
of Disappeared
Persons
(APDP)
about
presence
of more
than
3,844
unmarked
graves
in Poonch
and
Rajouri
and
directed
the
State
Government
to investigate
into
it and
submit
report. |
