NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) — The human rights commission of India’s Jammu and Kashmir has recommended the identification of the 2,156 bodies which were found in unmarked graves in north Kashmir last month, the Hindu newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) suggested that all means, including DNA profiling, should be used to identify the bodies buried in 38 places in India-administered Kashmir. The graves were identified through an investigation carried out by its police wing last month.
The commission, which was set up by the government, made six recommendations to address the issue. It said that “the dead bodies in unmarked graves … shall be identified by all available means and techniques like DNA profile, physical description, dental examination, distinctive medical characteristics, finger prints, carbon dating, forensic pathology etc. as may be applicable.”
The aim is to try to match the identity of the bodies with people who have disappeared. The SHRC has also said that once the bodies have been identified, prosecution procedures for crimes such as culpable homicide shall be undertaken if required.
Human rights groups in Kashmir claim that thousands of Kashmiris have disappeared since the 1990s. However, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) has only 350 names on its roster while the State government acknowledges some 1,200 residents are “missing”, according to the Hindu.
The APDP claims that the majority of these ‘disappeared’ persons have been illegally killed by security forces, while the government says the missing numbers are mostly made up of young men who come into India across the border from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to join militant groups.
On August 20, the report of an inquiry by the SHRC suggested that there were 2,730 unmarked graves spread across Baramulla, Bandipore and Kupwara districts. According to the report, only 574 of these were buried by locals.
A guerrilla war has been going on in India-administered Kashmir between militants and the Indian troops. Militant groups are usually blamed for attacks, while soldiers have been accused of rights abuses. The Indian government says more than 45,000 people – including civilians, militants and troops – have died in the region over the past two decades.
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