Delhi’s signal to J&K Govt: No grand funeral now on in Valley

Bodies of all Kashmiri militants to be buried alongside foreigners in Uri

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR: In a significant development, unprecedented in 29 years of the separatist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi has asked the Governor’s administration and security forces to ensure that there is no grand funeral upon the death of any Kashmiri militant in an encounter.
Well-placed authoritative sources revealed to STATE TIMES that the Centre had taken a serious notice of the massive funeral processions and remembrance ceremonies for the Kashmiri militants killed in different encounters with Police and security forces. “Such rallies, with the participants shouting pro-Pakistan and pro-caliphate slogans and waving Pakistani and ISIS flags, besides gun salutes in honour of the slain militants, were believed to encourage youths to join as militants or stone pelters. Government has decided to put an end to it”, said a senior officer.
If these sources are to be believed, bodies of only those slain militants would be returned to their family members whose relatives and responsible citizens in their neighbourhoods would furnish an undertaking that the burial would be conducted silently. “In case such undertakings are not honoured, all the slain militants’ bodies would be given a silent burial with involvement of local Wakf committees in remote areas of Uri and Kupwara”, said an official.
As of now, bodies of all the slain militants are handed over to their families for funeral rites. Only the bodies of unidentified militants, believed to be foreigners, are carried to remote areas and buried after performance of religious rituals in Uri. Source said it was because of this decision and communication that the body of a Kashmiri militant, namely Mudassar Ahmad Bhat of Old Barzullah Srinagar was not handed over to his relatives even as they staged a demonstration at Press Enclave in Srinagar and resorted to stone pelting in Barzullah on Saturday and Sunday.
Bhat’s body has been reportedly buried in Kachhama area of Kupwara, a day after he was killed in an encounter with security forces in Juma Gund Kralpora on June 29.
According to these sources, each unit of Army, CRPF and Police has been directed to carry five body-bags in every cordon-and-search operation. “Immediately after an encounter is over, bodies of the militants killed in a gunfight would be put in body-bags and carried all the way to Uri for burial. Samples for DNA testing would be collected and preserved, but no time would be wasted for identification of the slain militants”, said a knowledgeable source.