Nameless Truth

The issue of unmarked graves in militancy-torn Kashmir has remained controversial. In the past, civil rights activists, many of them often pedalling a separatist narrative, have maintained that these graves contain bodies of innocent people picked up by security forces and killed in cold blood. In 2009, one such report referred to 2,700 unmarked graves in North Kashmir, linking these to Kashmir’s long history of enforced disappearances—some claims suggest the disappearance of close to 10,000 people. 

Two years later, in 2011, the Jammu & Kashmir State Human Rights Commission made public the findings of its own investigation, conducted between 2008 and 2011, of 2,730 unmarked graves across Kashmir Valley’s three districts. The report concluded that many of these graves belonged to unidentified militants, including foreign terrorists, killed, over years, in encounters with security forces. But it acknowledged that in the absence of any robust scientific verification, such as DNA testing, the possibility of civilians being buried in some of these graves could not be ruled out. 

But now, an organisation, which seems to be helped by the government, has conducted a comprehensive fieldwork of over 4,000 graves which came into being from 1990, at the start of militancy, till 2023. The fieldwork, the organisation’s report says, involved physical inspection of 373 graveyards, where burial proceedings were checked and interviews conducted with numerous people—from local clerics to gravediggers to families of local militants. The survey has come up with findings that are at odds with reports of the organisation that conducted the 2009 survey. The researchers found out that about 61 per cent of these graves belong to foreign terrorists, while 1,208 graves—about 30 per cent—are of local militants. The survey could also find 70 graves, which upon investigation turned out to be those of Pakistani-sponsored tribal raiders who attacked Kashmir through Uri and Baramulla in the north in the October of 1947.  

In Baramulla district, the researchers surveyed 19 graveyards where they took stock of over 700 graves. After interviews and record-checking, the survey claims to have found a consistent pattern: most graves turned out to be those of foreign militants who infiltrated from the Line of Control (LoC) and were killed subsequently in encounters. In Badmulla, Sheeri, for example, four graves were discovered; upon investigation, the locals said these belonged to foreign terrorists killed in an encounter in 1995. These were handed over to masjid committees near a famous local shrine, and were buried in the graveyard in a ceremony which many locals attended. In another graveyard in Fatehgarh, out of nine graves, two were found out to be of Afghan mercenaries, while five belonged to local militants owing allegiance to the terrorist organisation, Hizbul Mujahideen. In the two remaining graves are buried civilians, reportedly killed by militants. One of these is of a civilian identified as Bashir Ahmed Lone; the researchers found out that he was killed on June 9, 1992, by Hizbul militants owing to his refusal to allow his brothers to join them.   

In the neighbouring Bandipora district, the survey covered almost a thousand graves in over a hundred graveyards. After investigation, about 600 graves turned out to be of foreign terrorists, while over 300 belonged to local militants. In most cases, the identity of foreign terrorists cannot be established as they hardly carry any identification papers. But in some cases, the researchers were able to. In Bandipora, a Pakistani terrorist named
Abu Mawiya’s grave was identified; he died in an encounter with Indian forces on August 21, 2001. Similarly, another foreign terrorist called Abu Hamza lies buried in Bandipora’s Nasoo graveyard—he was killed in an encounter in the Weevan forest on October 3, 2001. In one graveyard, an informant told the researchers of a dead militant’s body that he said carried a label that read:
‘Dr Talha from Karachi’. In most cases there is no First Information Report (FIR)—an indicator of the turbulent security situation in the Valley in the early 1990s. In another instance, a gravedigger recalled how once in the ’90s, as he started preparing a militant’s body for burial, he discovered a live grenade strapped to his abdomen—it was most likely left there to inflict damage upon security forces. It was removed and then handed over to the police. 

In a graveyard in Uri, close to LoC, seven graves were found to have proper nameplates; this is because these belong to local residents who joined militant ranks and were killed along the LoC while trying to cross over. One of them is Bashir Ahmed Dar who went missing in 2004. Sometime after he went missing, the report says, the family was informed about a few bodies buried by security forces. After checking with the gravedigger, who described a neck chain one of them was wearing, the family could identify Dar. His modest grave has a little inscription in Urdu now. There are many militants like Dar who lie buried in such graves. In the height of militancy, many young men would not even inform their families; it was only when their bodies were found did the families realise that they had become militants. 

In a graveyard close to the national highway in North Kashmir, most graves are from early 2000s. In many, the families of those who lie buried here still visit the graveyard, offering prayers—which helped the researchers in identifying them. In an interview with the gravedigger who has buried all the bodies in the graveyard, it was revealed that one of the graves belonged to an infant whose lifeless body he had once found floating in the Jhelum River. 

At the same time, though, the researchers also found out graves of people who became victims of the state. One such case involves a fake encounter in which three civilians from Jammu region, who had travelled to South Kashmir looking for work, were picked up by an Army officer and killed in a staged encounter. But such cases are an aberration. Like other graveyards, this one also has its share of foreign terrorists. Prominent among them is Abu Dujana, a Pakistani national and a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was killed on August 1, 2017 in South Kashmir, brought here and buried. His Kashmiri associate, Arif Lalhari, was buried separately in his native village in South Kashmir only. Another high-profile terrorist who lies buried here is
Junaid Sehrai, the son of a prominent separatist leader—he had joined the Hizbul ranks and was killed on May 19, 2020. Owing to Covid protocol at that time, his body was not returned to the family and was taken to this graveyard for burial. 

The report has also asked for examination of around 276 graves in Baramulla, which could not be identified. “There is a possibility,” says the report, “that a few of the unmarked graves may belong to civilians caught in crossfire, fake encounters, or other tragic situations. Such cases must not be ignored.” It says that forensic tools like DNA testing should be used that could then be matched with families whose kith and kin are missing. 

graveyardsJammu and KashmirNorth Kashmirslain militantssurveyterrorismWaddur village