Bodies of terrorists buried off quietly: Cops cite social distancing norms

New Delhi, May 10: The police chief of Jammu and Kashmir, Dilbag Singh said that a decision not to hand over bodies of terrorists to the families and also to bury them quietly was taken to ensure social distancing norms during the coronavirus outbreak.

The police are however allowing burials by the families subject to the condition that no crowds gather at the site.

The body of top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Riyaz Naikoo was buried quietly. The body was not handed over to the family in a bid to avoid glorifying him and also to prevent large crowds from gathering.

The body was buried off in an undisclosed location. This has been a norm for sometime in the Valley as funerals of terrorists had started gathering huge crowds. Moreover the funerals had started becoming glorification events.

Naikoo was killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday. He had been on the run for the past 8 years and on several occasions given the forces the slip.

The problem that the security agencies have faced in the past is the crowding at terrorist funerals. During those times, it caused a security problem and today there is an added problem of coronavirus, which requires social distancing.

Jammu and Kashmir too has been hit by the pandemic and the administration has been advising social distancing.
It was only recently following the killing of a terrorist in Sopore that large crowds turned up at his funeral. However, the security forces have now shifted their strategy and have successfully ensured quiet funerals for these terrorists.

Last month, the authorities managed to bury four terrorists quietly at Ganderbal.
They were killed in a gunfight in Shopian in South Kashmir. On April 17, two terrorists were killed in an encounter at Shopian. The two who were killed were quietly buried at Baramulla in north Kashmir the same day after all formalities were completed.

In both these cases, the police said that the terrorists were not identified. However, in the Shopian case, the families claimed that the two terrorists were their sons. They have now approached the District Magistrate demanding that the bodies are handed over.

This is a clear message that the forces and the authorities are sending out to ensure that these terrorists are not buried in the presence of large crowds. Large crowds gathering especially in a situation like this is nothing but a nightmare. First and foremost it is a security issue and secondly, all efforts being made by the administration to curb the spread of the pandemic will be lost, an official informed OneIndia.

In the previous funerals, crowds had gathered in Kulgam. The police had a tough time in controlling the crowds. Following this, an FIR was filed and 100 persons were arrested.
In recent times bodies of only five terrorists have been handed over to the families. The families have to undertake that the funerals will be held quietly and if found violating the same, stringent action would follow.