Grumme minder om en skånselsløs konflikt gravet frem i det omstridte område i Himalaya
The authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir say they will carry out DNA tests on thousands of bodies discovered in some 40 mass graves, BBC online reports Tuesday.
The security forces say the bodies are those of militants killed in clashes with Indian forces when they tried to cross from Pakistan’s side of the Line of Control (LoC). Locals say they were civilians killed at the hands of the army and the police.
LoC is the he de facto border separating Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir – both countries claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
More than 2.000 bodies are said to lie in the unmarked graves, mostly located along the LoC.
Last week the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission ordered a fresh inquiry into allegations that 3.000 more bodies are buried at other sites in south Kashmir.
The recommendations of the rights commission have often been ignored by the state government in the past, but the authorities said its latest report would not be neglected.
Human rights activists say that as many as 8.000 people have gone missing in Indian-administered Kashmir during 20 years of rebellion against India’s rule over the Muslim-majority region.
They say that the unmarked graves may contain the bodies of thousands of civilians who vanished and were possibly killed by government forces over suspicions they were collaborating with rebels, BBC notes.
