In a significant decision, the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have decided to take away the bodies of slain Islamic terrorists and bury them away from their village instead of handing them to the family in a bid to prevent the crowd from gathering.
According to the reports, the dead bodies of the two terrorists, who were killed in a gunbattle with security forces at Waghama in Jammu & Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday, were also buried by the security forces and was not handed over to their family because of coronavirus restrictions.
Last week, the two terrorists belonging to the Jammu Kashmir Islamic State (JKIS) had killed an eight-year-old and one Central Reserve Police Force soldier after they had opened fire at a road opening party of CRPF’s 90 Battalion near the Padshahi Bagh bridge in Bijbehara area.
However, on Tuesday, they were traced by the security forces, who in a joint operation killed the two terrorists at the Waghama area of Bijbehara. The security forces also recovered arms and ammunition were from the site.
The slain terrorists’ dead bodies were sent to Handwara, around 100 km away, for their burial after medico-legal formalities.
Security forces adopt a new strategy to bury terrorists’ dead bodies
Since last two months, the terrorists killed by the security forces have been taken away from their native places in Baramulla, Handwara, and Ganderbal due to coronavirus restrictions, which also have coincided with the increase in violence in the region.
Dilbag Singh, the police chief of Jammu and Kashmir had stated that they had adopted a new strategy to prevent funeral processions for slain terrorists by not handing over dead bodies of terrorists to the families and also to bury them quietly was taken to ensure social distancing norms during the coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier in April, the security forces had managed to quietly bury two terrorists killed in Shopian in Baramulla district on April 17. Similarly, on April 22, Jammu and Kashmir authorities had buried four terrorists killed in a gunfight in south Kashmir’s Shopian. In both these cases, the police said that the terrorists were not identified.
Following the new strategy, the body of top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Riyaz Naikoo was also buried quietly. The body was not handed over to the family as a preventive measure to avoid honouring him and also to prevent large crowds from gathering. The security forces buried the body in an undisclosed location.
The funerals of terrorists gathering huge crowds had been a norm in the valley lately, which had become glorification events for Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorists.
The security forces often faced huge problem in the valley after an operation as crowds would assemble for the funeral procession of the deceased terrorists. With the coronavirus pandemic, the problem aggravated as such funeral processions violated social distancing norms.
Anger brewing in Kashmiri families
As the security forces are adopting a new strategy, the Kashmiri families are raging against the authorities for denying them to give a proper burial for the slain terrorists as per Islamic and local traditions.
Farooq Ahmed Langoo, the father of the Shakoor Farooqui, who was killed along with two other terrorists of Jammu and Kashmir Islamic State (ISJK) in a gunfight with security forces in Pozwalpora, Srinagar on June 21 claimed that the new approach was nothing but cruel and unjust.
Shakoor was involved in the terrorist attack in Ahmed Nagar, Pandach area on the peripheries of Srinagar on May 20, when two motorbike-borne terrorists had opened fire at BSF jawans killing leaving two jawans Rana Mandal and Zia ul-Haq dead.
“We begged before them and they told us that they will give us the body of my child by 5 pm. They didn’t. We told them they may bury it but in front of us…at least, two persons from among us should also be allowed to attend the funeral. But they refused,” said Ahmed.
According to Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh, Shakoor and two other terrorists had hidden in a private house before the start of the gunfight. The terrorists were given the opportunity to surrender. Shakoor’s parents and other family members had also appealed to them to lay down their arms through the public address system. However, the terrorists had ignored it, who got killed in the encounter on June 21.
