Kashmir police bury slain rebels, won’t hand over bodies

SRINAGAR: Indian authorities did not hand over the bodies of the slain Kashmiri fighters to their families under a new government policy designed to thwart large-scale funerals that have become a rallying point for anti-India protests, foreign media reported.

Instead, they are being buried in unmarked graves. The government is blaming the coronavirus pandemic for not allowing a proper burial, but human rights groups are sceptical.

Kashmir clashes continue for third day over killing of top freedom fighter.

At least one killed and 50 others injured, some allegedly hit by pellets in eyes, in clashes over Riyaz Naikoo’s death.

Anti-India protests and clashes have continued for a third day on Friday in Indian held Kashmir following the killing of a top rebel leader by government forces.

The Hizbul Mujahideen group’s commander Riyaz Naikoo and three other rebels were killed in a gunfight with Indian troops on Wednesday in southern Kashmir’s Pulwama district, leading to massive clashes in several places.

Naikoo, 35, was the chief of operations of Hizbul Mujahideen, the disputed region’s largest rebel group, which has spearheaded an armed rebellion against the Indian rule.

The clashes continued on Friday as anti-India protesters threw stones at the government forces, who fired shotgun pellets and tear gas to quell the spiralling protests.

At least one man has been killed and 50 others injured in the three days of clashes, residents and medics said. Most of the injured were treated locally.

However, at least a dozen people with bullet and pellet injuries were taken to a hospital in Srinagar, the region’s main city, for treatment, a doctor said on condition of anonymity because medics have been barred from briefing the news media.

Authorities did not hand over the bodies of the slain rebels to their families under a new government policy designed to thwart large-scale funerals that have become a rallying point for anti-India protests.

Instead, police buried the bodies in a mountainous graveyard about 100km from the village.

Authorities have shut down mobile phone and internet services since Wednesday, a common Indian tactic in the region when such protests erupt.

They also imposed a near-total information blackout and refused to brief media about the situation.

Hindu-majority India imposed similar measures in 2019 when it revoked the predominantly Muslim region’s semi-autonomous status and statehood and imposed direct federal rule.

At that time, it launched a months-long total communication blackout and an unprecedented military crackdown in the strife-torn region.

Indian security officials and some members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party called Naikoo’s death a major victory against the Kashmiri fighters.