Srinagar, Jun 23: Government forces have urged the Delhi government to frame a policy against handing over bodies of militants killed in encounters in Jammu and Kashmir to their families in an effort to prevent people from attending their funerals, which often motivates many local youths in joining militancy, the Indian Express reported.
Jammu and Kashmir Police are also of the view that handing over of militants’ bodies shores up emotions in the area during funerals in the locality, and leads to an atmosphere that is conducive for more youths picking up the gun, the report said.
Both men and women attend these funerals, which eventually turn into charged anti-India rallies, the officials reasoned. The police are responsible for conducting formalities and handing over the body of a dead militant to his family even when he is killed in an encounter with the Army or paramilitary forces.
While the Delhi government is yet to take a decision on the issue, sources indicated that the final decision may be left with the state police, which will decide on a case-to-case basis on whether to pass on the body to a slain militant’s family. Authorities may decide on burying militants killed in encounters at the place nearest to the encounter site, it is learnt.
A recent study conducted by Jammu and Kashmir Police on “radicalisation and terrorism in the Valley” also states that one of the final stages of youths joining militancy is when a militant “gets killed and is turned into a martyr by stakeholders, becomes a hero for other disillusioned youth, (and thereby) completing the vicious cycle”.
The report is based on a study of “156 local youths of the Valley who have joined militancy between 2010 and 2015”.
According to Home Ministry figures, 75 militants were killed in operations and 65 people joined the militancy ranks in the Valley in the first five months of the ongoing year. Last year, 217 militants were killed in encounters with security forces, according to official statistics.
In 2015, 108 militants were killed in encounters with security forces, and numbers went up to 150 in 2016, the year key Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was gunned down, leading to a fresh wave of protests in the Valley.
