Four border districts earmarked for burial of slain terrorists in J&K

Additional DGP (Kashmir Zone) Vijay Kumar told ET, “The burial of militants takes place as per the tradition and we always obtain and preserve the DNA samples. In many cases, videography of the ritual is conducted. Their families at times visit the graveyard to pray such as during Eid.” The Jammu and Kashmir police stopped handing the bodies of armed militants to family members in 2020, citing COVID-19 protocols and restrictions.

In 2020, 71 local militants and in 2021 75 of them were killed in police action while 64 have been killed this year so far. The total number of local youths who join militant ranks in 2020 were 167, 136 in 2021 and 99 in 2022. The State police is responsible for conducting formalities and handing over the body of the militant to his family even if the militant is killed during an encounter with Army, CRPF or NSG. Jammu and Kashmir police were of the view that handing over of dead bodies shore up emotions locally and lead to an atmosphere conducive for more youths joining militants ranks.

Both men and women used to attend these funerals in large numbers, which later turned into anti-India rallies. This was also established through a study done on previous cases of local youths joining militants. It was noted that one of the final stages of youth joining militancy is when the militant gets killed and is turned into a martyr by stakeholders, becomes a hero for other disillusioned youth. “Many districts in south Kashmir where a militant has died in the past years, have also observed spontaneous shutdowns, which, in some cases, continued for days,” explained a senior official.
Further, the officials said that the reasons for identifying North Kashmir’s district as burial site was taken as radicalisation and militant infrastructure is not rampant in the region. “As compared to south Kashmir where 78 youths were recruited this year, North Kashmir reported only 7 cases out of 99 recruitments,” they said. The militants who joined the terror outfit this year did not survive for very long. According to police, 57 of them were killed within the first month, four were killed within 2 months and three within 3 months.