The J&K State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has recommended identification of the victims buried in 2,080 ‘unidentified and unmarked’ graves, found in Rajouri and Poonch districts of the Jammu region, using DNA profiling and other forensic examinations.
The state government, in its report to the SHRC, has already accepted the presence of 1,486 and 594 unidentified and unmarked graves in Poonch and Rajouri districts, respectively.
The recommendations are similar to those issued by the SHRC on October 19, 2011, for the identification of 2,156 unidentified bodies discovered in ‘unmarked graves’ in Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts of north Kashmir.
Soon after the verdict in 2011, Srinagar-based human rights lawyer Parvez Imroz and others had approached the rights commission with a petition, alleging that there were unmarked and unidentified graves in Poonch and Rajouri too.
Since the government has accepted that there are 2,080 ‘unidentified and unmarked’ graves in Poonch and Rajouri, SHRC Chairman Justice Bilal Nazki (retd), in his verdict today, said the commission had no hesitation in issuing the directions already issued in earlier petitions in 2011 with regard to the identification of ‘unmarked and mass’ graves in north Kashmir.
As per the recommendations, “the dead bodies in unmarked graves shall be identified by all available means and techniques like DNA profile, physical description, dental examination, distinctive medical characteristics, finger prints, carbon dating and forensic pathology as may be applicable.”
The aim is to see if the identity of the bodies matches the identity of the ‘disappeared’ persons.
Human rights groups in the state claim that over 8,000 people have disappeared in J&K since 1990.
Rights panel wants DNA profiling of 2,080 ‘Unidentified and Unmarked Graves’
