BEIJING: China's State-run Xinhua news agency is running a report that paints a gruesome picture of a burial ground filled with unmarked graves in Poonch in Jammu & Kashmir. Bodies are mostly brought in for burial by the police and the army, and some of them are brought without their heads, the report said quoting local sources.
The report, which would be carried by several Chinese newspapers, is likely to cause some ripples in the region. It may be viewed by some in India as an attempt to justify China's involvement with the political system and development projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, while others might see it as an expose of the highhandedness of Indian armed forces.
The State Human Rights Commission has recently asked the government to identify unmarked graves in 38 sites in the northwest of Srinagar city, the report noted. The Commission has found there are over 2,100 unidentified bodies in the area, it said.
But the Xinhua report does not carry the views of the Indian Army, the governments in New Delhi and Srinagar. Interestingly, the Chinese media has not carried any significant reports about the grave law and order situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Burials are carried out quietly without involving the local people. "Burials of those killed by army and police usually stoke protest demos in the region especially against police and army and reverberate with the demand of end to New Delhi's rule," the report said.
It quotes Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard located about 30 kms from Mandi, as saying: "Police and Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limps".
Xinhua said that "A strong separatist movement is going on in the region seeking end of New Delhi's rule". Rights groups say around 70,000 people have been killed in 22 years of conflict while the official figure stands at 45,000, it said.
