India rejects grave DNA tests, Kashmiris call it “attempt to sustain impunity”
A Kashmiri man prays near an unmarked grave inside a martyrs graveyard in Srinagar, Kashmir. The Tombstone reads, “unidentified fifteen year old boy shot and killed by Border Security Force soldiers on 5th September 2003.” – Photo by AP
SRINAGAR: The government of Kashmir has rejected wide-scale DNA testing of bodies in thousands of unmarked graves despite pleas by the families of those who disappeared during two decades of fighting in the region.
A report by the state’s home department that was obtained by Associated Press insisted that all those buried in the graves were militants and said that if families wanted DNA tests, they would have to identify both the graveyard and the exact grave where they think their disappeared relative was buried.
The random collection of DNA from the graves would be an “academic exercise” that would “hurt the local sentiments,” the report said.
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 report was a response to a three-year investigation by the state-run Human Rights Commission confirming last year that 38 burial sites in the north of the Himalayan territory contained 2,156 unidentified bodies. The Human Rights Commission said 574 other bodies found in the graves were identified as local residents, and it urged widespread DNA testing.
Those findings reversed India’s long-time insistence that the dead were foreign militants killed in the fight against Indian rule in Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.
But the new state government report, filed to the human rights commission last month but not released publicly, rejected the commission’s investigation and insisted all the bodies in the graves were combatants.
Police could not ascertain the identities of the dead rebels because they operated in disguise and in remote regions far away from their homes, the report said.
“The dead bodies of these terrorists were accordingly categorised as unidentified,” it said.
Rebel groups began fighting in 1989 against Indian rule, and more than 68,000 people have been killed in the uprising and subsequent Indian crackdowns.
Rights groups said some 8,000 people have disappeared, and accused government forces of staging gun-battles to cover up killings. The groups also say suspected rebels have been arrested and never heard from again.
The state government has said most of the disappeared are young Kashmiris who crossed into Pakistani-controlled Kashmir for weapons training.
The new report rejected any link between missing people and unidentified graves in the region.
“The impression being given to the commission that the unidentified dead bodies buried in these unmarked graves might be of the persons/civilians who have been reported to be victims of alleged forced disappearance is not correct and is far from truth.”
The report said random DNA testing of the graves would take years since only about 16 labs in India had the capacity to do it.
It could also “attract undesired media attention, cause prolonged trauma to the people and can also act as a trigger point/event for causing serious law and order disturbances,” it said.
The report said no one had taken the government up in its previous offer to undertake DNA tests on specific graves identified by the relatives of those missing.
But Parvez of the families association said it filed a case in December on behalf of 132 families asking for just that. It filed another 507 cases last month, he said.
“Nothing has come out so far,” he said.
how long india can hide its massacres, atrocities, and genocides ?
Shamma Parveen;
We have no problem with you being secular or being satisfied in India. We have Islamic traditions and I hope you don’t have any problems with that. Our prophet said, “Lakum Deenakum Wali ad-Deen”, your Deen to you and our Deen to us.
I am not clear about one thing.If a grave is identified with that of a local person,how it can be concluded that the person has NOT been a terrorist. Secondly with huge expenditure incurred on DNA testing what would be other achievements for citizens, who are tired of inflation.If agreed such exercise will add to inflation further!
Ask the mother who lost his young son, daughters. Ask the widows who lost husband. Only those can feel who ever suffre the loss of their beloved one -
@Tayyaba – Ah! Emotional plea. But I hope you see the logic in here.
You’re absolutely spot on!
killers of innocent who so ever they they are will have to pay in the court of God.
I am a Pakistani and I am also safer in Pakistan…my grandparents migrated from India in the 60′s…I am a mohajir but I love Pakistan.
Congrats on your love. But what’s your point??
As an Indian I would like to know the whole truth. We need as many DNA testings as needed and the Indian Governament should pay for it.
fair enough !!
Ahsan (Pakistan)
It is only our brothers and sisters in Kashmir who has to decide there future and no one else. There decision will be the final verdict.
India or Pakistan no-one has the right to defy human dignity / life. India certainly has a lot to hide from the world and there are grave human rights violations by Indian forces.
And people: please stop comparing Pakistan and India in the wrong way. If India is progressing it is only good for them and we do not reap the benefits of your progress. Similarly, if Pakistan is going through a difficult phase it is only us who are suffering the most and not anyone else.
Sorry Afshan but all of us are suffering with you.A strong and stable Pakistan is as much in India’s interest as is India’s own progress.We want Pakistan to progress and as for the issue in hand I too as an Indian would like to know the truth and yes I will pay extra tax for it if need be.
Bhagvan ke ghar der he par andher nahi. He will punish those guilty. India or Pakistan? wait and watch.
??? ???
You have a kind and a gentle soul among of this sea of lynch mob.
Well said my friend.
One more thing in this article is that Govt is only rejecting mass DNA testing ,,,Would you like that every grave should be open ???
yes when you looking for loved one
Yes. If you true and really innocent. You won’t hesitate one second.
Rohit if their relatives wants to open the graves then why Indian government is rejecting.
its time for deep retrospection from all the sides ultimately everyone has suffered from terrorism, but i can tell you that most of us are satisfied in india due to its secular traditions.
well said. Me and my family are satisfied here and we want the cross border terrorism to stop.
tell that to the 2156 unidentified bodies…
Atleast there is an acceptance of such attrocity in India…. can you have that in Pak? The number of balochis, shias and other minority are being slaughtered is enormous. Look at your own country before commenting.
May God save you from Gujrat and Samjhota Express like massacres.
Being a Hindu, I hope God saves me from Godhra train burning and Bombay bomb blasts sort of things too. Will you be praying for that too?
May God save Hazara people too..
May God keep yoi safe in Pakistan!!!!BTW….which of Pakistan city is safest?
may god save you from Talibans & other extermists .
May god save you from the daily bombings, killings in Karachi, Sindh, Northern Areas, FATA, Waziristan like bombings and massacres.
Gujrat & Samjhauta express is exception. The guilty of both crime has been punished. But in Pakistan, on every other day, samjhauta type incident keep happening and till date no body is get punished. So, Please pray for Pakistan & Pakistani- you need more blessing from Allah than Indians.
And may God save Pakistan’s minorities in the years ahead
now all of sudden indian love peace and humanity
well said, sister!