The J&K police have now decided to do away with the “practice” of handing over bodies of non-local militants—killed in gunfights with forces in Kashmir—to locals for burial, citing massive participation of people in their funerals and the resultant pro-freedom protests.
A senior police officer, who wished not to be named, said the huge participation of people in the funeral of slain Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Abu Qasim in 2015 “became a major concern” for security agencies in the Valley.
“This trend of mass participation of people in funerals of militants was visible during the peak of militancy in Kashmir. When a militant would die in the Valley in early 90s, his colleagues would give him a salute by firing some gunshots in the air as was seen during Qasim’s funeral,” he said. “The issue was discussed at the highest level and a consensus was evolved that bodies of foreign militants should not be handed over to people all the time, mainly to avoid protests and clashes, and also to avoid participation of people in huge numbers in their funerals.”
After Qasim’s funeral, police registered cases against 60 youth of South Kashmir’s Shopian district. An Imam, who led Qasim’s funeral prayers, was booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Talking to us, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range), Syed Javid Mujtaba Gilani, said: “We keep many factors in view while dealing with bodies of foreign unidentified militants. We ensure their proper burial as well. When we feel there is an apprehension of law and order problem, we don’t hand over bodies to locals.”
Police sources reveal that non-local militants, whose identity becomes difficult to ascertain, are mostly laid to rest at Trikanjan in Uri area of Baramulla district. “But this is not the case all the time. The militants who are foreigners and remain unidentified are also buried in areas where they are killed,” a police source said.
Pertinently, General officer Commanding (GoC) of Srinagar-based army’s 15-Corps, Lt General Satish Dua, recently admitted that the participation of people in militants’ funeral was “a concern.”
Reliable sources said the Ministry of Home Affairs had also expressed its resentment over huge participation of people in Qasim’s funeral and asked the security agencies in Kashmir to ensure “such things are not repeated.”
Observers believe it’s not new in the Valley for people to join funeral prayers of militants.
Sources told that the security agencies, who often boast of dip in militancy, “don’t want repeat of 90-like situation” in the Valley. “The participation of people in Qasim’s funeral had to be analysed by the security agencies as it was a concern for them. They would never like to see anything that can be projected as an open support to militancy,” a police official said.
He said slapping of PSA on a local Imam of Kulgam was a “signal by the security agencies to people of Kashmir that honouring foreign militants can cost them dear.”
