Indian Kashmir rejects DNA testing of bodies in unmarked graves: Report

Families of disappeared people irked, say government trying to obfuscate the truth.


Web Desk September 05, 2012
Indian Kashmir rejects DNA testing of bodies in unmarked graves: Report

SRINAGAR: The government of Indian Kashmir has rejected wide-scale DNA testing of bodies in thousands of unmarked graves, reported the Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday. The families of those who disappeared during two decades of fighting in Kashmir had appealed for the testing.

The Associated Press claimed to have attained a report by Kashmir’s home department which stated that the bodies were of militants and said that if the families want the DNA tests done, they would have to identify the graveyard and the grave in which they think their relative is buried.

On the other hand, Khurram Parvez – an official with the local Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons – criticised the report as “yet another attempt by the government to obfuscate the truth and sustain impunity,” the AP report quoted.

Last year, Kashmir’s State Human Rights Commission had surprised everyone when it submitted a report detailing the existence of 2,730 bodies lying in unmarked graves in northern Kashmir.

Crucially the report had said 574 bodies had been identified as those of local residents — a finding that directly challenged the long-held official insistence that any unmarked graves could only be those of foreign militants.

The commission had recommended DNA testing to determine the identity of the remaining 2,156 bodies and the creation of an independent body to monitor the process.

COMMENTS (72)

Tony Singh | 12 years ago | Reply

@Shahbaz: Consider the telegram null and void. It has exceeded its expiry date!

Lala Gee | 12 years ago | Reply

@Raw is War:

"muslims are outsiders. Islam is a foreign religion. Pakistan was a hindu place to start with."

OK. Muslims in the sub-continent are foreigners, therefore they have no rights whatsoever and since the Hindus are the only natives they have the divine right to treat Muslims the way they like. I would like to ask you what you say about Sikhs. Are they also foreigners? In 1984, you slaughtered thousands of them in pogroms, gang raped hundreds of Sikh girls and women, and burned tens of thousands of their homes and businesses. Only in Punjab province, more than 11,000 Sikh youth were murdered in extrajudicial executions by the security forces. Another 6,000+ out of a large number of youth who were abducted by police from their homes died due to inhuman torture. Later their mutilated corpses were secretly cremated by the Indian security forces to hide their heinous crimes. Don't believe me read yourself all these details of the Indian cruelties in this 275 page report by Human Rights Watch, "Protecting the Killers: A Policy of Impunity in Punjab, India, 18 October 2007".

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