Wednesday 18 April 2012

The Pathribal Aftermath

Pathribal was a part of three successive and related killings which claimed 50 lives between March 20 and April 3, 2000. On March 20, unidentified gunmen killed 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora followed by the Pathribal killings on March 25 and then the killing of nine civilians at Brakpora on April 3 who were part of a protest over the Pathribal killings. Vakil Manzoor recounts.

On 25 March 2000, Indian military forces killed five men in (Vuzkhah Zontangri peak) Pathribal village of Anantnag district, claiming that the victims were “foreign militants” responsible for the attacks on Sikhs in South Kashmir’s Chittisinghpora.

Official reports claimed that security forces after a gunfight, blew up the hut where the ‘militants’ were hiding, and had retrieved five bodies that had been charred beyond recognition. The bodies were buried without any postmortem examination.

Over the following days, local villagers began to protest, claiming that the men were ordinary civilians who had been killed in a fake encounter. According to them, the police between March 21 and 24 of 2000, had detained many men.

On 30 March, authorities in Anantnag relented to growing public pressure and agreed to exhume the bodies and conduct an investigation into the deaths.

On 5 April 2000, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah ordered the exhumation of the bodies killed in Pathribal. DNA samples were collected from the 5 bodies, as well as 15 relatives of the missing young men, and were submitted to forensic laboratories in Kolkata and Hyderabad.

However, in March 2002 it was discovered that the DNA samples taken from the bodies of the Pathribal victims (all of whom were men) had been tampered with. According to reports, samples had in fact been collected from females.

Later, experts collected fresh samples in April 2002 from Kolkata and Hyderabad. That verified the five people killed in Pathribal were locals and not foreign militants as claimed by the police.

In January 2003 the case was handed to the CBI by the state government. The CBI investigation alleged that officials of 7 Rashtriya Rifles had in fact staged the fake encounter wherein they had killed the five innocent civilians and later on labeled them as “foreign militants”.

25-year-old youth Zahoor Ahmad Dalal was among the five persons killed. The other four civilians killed in the fake encounter included Muhammad Yousuf Malik of Halan Verinag, Bashir Ahmed Bhat of Halan Verinag, Juma Khan (son of Faqeerullah Khan) of Brari Angan and Juma Khan (son of Ameerullah Khan) of Brari Angan.

Zahoor Ahamd Dalal

For the last 10 years, the house of Raja Bano (mother of Zahoor Dalal) is locked and she is living with her brother in a nearby house. She doesn’t talk much of her son but says in a low voice. “I have kept every belonging including the clothing of Zahoor locked in almirah and each time he comes in my dreams, he asks me to donate them to poor,” says Raja.

Nazir Ahmad Dalal identified the maroon sweater and the shirt of his nephew as soon as the first grave was opened. The villagers had buried the half-burnt clothes of Dalal as well.

Zahoor Ahamd Dalal was picked up just outside their home at Mominabad.

Raja Begum says, “Now the world knows we were not lying. Our stand has been vindicated. The guilt of the officials involved has been proved beyond any shade of doubt.”

Juma khan
Roshan Jan, had no doubts left that her husband, Juma Khan was no more. “Main nay uski thudi aur nak pehchan lee (I identified his bearded, chin and nose),’’ she says. When asked whether she has any doubts left regarding the identity of her husband’s body as there is just half of the face left, she screamed, `I have lived my entire life with him, how can I make a mistake in identifying him?’’

Roshan Jan had come all the way from village Brariangan for the identification. Her son was among the eight villagers killed in the police firing upon the demonstrating villagers, who were seeking exhumation of these bodies.

She says the Army came in the night on March 24 and asked him to accompany them. They were not aggressive. They told us they wanted my husband to guide them through the hilly track. So we happily let him go. Our relative from Pathribal Moulvi Qasim identified the dead body of my father and he informed us about that. They (army) buried these dead bodies at different places.

Bashir Ahmad Bhat
A second grave was dug up at Chogam where Ghulam Rasool Bhat, whose brother Bashir Ahmad Bhat was also missing, says it was his brother’s body lying in the grave. The rest of the graves, spread over a radius of 2 to 3 km in the Pathribal area where the security forces had claimed to have killed five “foreign guerrillas” involved in the March 20 massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chittisinghpora.

He was arrested from Islamabad. He went there to collect money from the borrowers. It was 24th March, Friday. Around 7:45 pm they were arrested in the Shirpora area of Anantnag. We came to know about them only after my brother went to Islamabad on the very next morning. He asked shopkeepers about Bashir.

On 24th they were arrested and the same day they were killed and on the next morning their pictures were shown on newspaper and televisions. We staged protest for 13 consecutive days. No local was allowed to enter the graveyard. Their corpses indeed spoke how they had been tortured. We couldn’t identify them. One family recognized their son only after they saw the remaining of trousers and warmer. I recognized when I saw hand of one corpse, I shouted it is my brother.

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

http://nvras.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/pathribal-aftermath.html

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Most mass graves in C'nawabganj now 'a matter of indifference'

Freedom fighters said, a large number of people were killed by the Pakistan occupation forces with the help of local collaborators and buried in those places, 1971.

Due to lack of maintenance, a number of the identified mass graves have turned into abandoned places while others are about to be obliterated, they said.

Some of the places where the mass graves are located are Shmashan Ghat, Rehaichar and BGB camp in the town, Zamindar House of Baroghoria, Poragaon, Teroroshia and Dashroshia villages in Islampur union under Sadar upazila.

The killing ground known as 'Pakistan Bagan' near Shibganj Girls' College in Chapainawabganj has almost been devoured by Pagla River, while the mass grave near Gomostapur police station is now about to be obliterated.

Most of the mass graves of Liberation War martyrs in different upazilas lie uncared for while a few face obliteration largely due to indifference of the authorities.

Besides, there is one at Doroshia village, two mass graves at Monakasha union, several at Kalabari village, Dhobra, Baliadighi, Kansat Musa Chowdhry's mango orchard and two other at Pakistani Bagan and Selimabad in Shibgonj upazila.

The other graves are at Shahpurgarh in Bholahar upazila and Gomostapur village, Rohonpur Rail Station Para, Rohonpur AB High School, Tikrampur village, Ginarpur village, Enayetpur village and Gomostapur Smriti Mandir in Gomostapur upazila.

Major portion of Rehaichar mass grave has been devoured by Mohananda River while Shmashan Ghat mass grave is also in bad shape. People built houses in Shmashan Ghat mass grave area almost obliterating the spot.

Pakistan army killed and dumped the bodies of a large number of people at Shmashan Ghat, Rehaichar and former EPR camp (BGB headquarters) in Chapainawabganj town.

Locals built houses on the mass graves at Zamindar House in Baroghoria and now there is no sign of any mass grave.

Major portion of the two mass graves in Pakistani Bagan in Shibgonj has been devoured by Pagla River. From July to August, Pakistan army and their collaborators killed several hundred people in these places.

Pakistan army killed at least 200 people in Poragaon, Dashroshia and Teroroshia village under Islampur union of Sadar upazila and dumped their bodies at different spots.

Doroshia village mass grave in Shibgonj upazila has been lost forever due to river erosion. On October 10, 1971 Pakistan army killed 38 villagers in the village.

Pakistan army in collusion with the local collaborators raided Gomostapur Hindupara village and caught a large number of villagers. They forced them to stand in a row, shot them dead and dumped their bodies under earth.

On April 23, Pakistan army raided Gomostapur village again and caught and killed 35 villagers. During the liberation war, they killed 14 freedom fighters at Shahpurgarh and buried in the area.

Most of the aforesaid mass graves are still without any memorial, while the memorials at several places are lying neglected, said local freedom fighters.

Only Baliadighi mass grave and Rohonpur Rail Station Para mass grave have memorials, they said.

Leaders of Chapaianwabganj district unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad have demanded steps for proper maintenance of all identified mass graves and build memorials where martyrs were killed and buried by the Pakistan occupation forces during the liberation war.

“During the liberation war, a number of massacres took place in the district. There are mass grave everywhere, of which only 25 to 30 have so far been identified,” said Dr Mazharul Islam Toru, writer of Chapainawabganjer Itihas (History of Chapainawabganj).

Proper steps should be taken to identify and preserve the mass graves, he said.

Wedn 18 April 2012

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/photo_gallery.php?pid=230551

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8,000 jars of human remains are to be given a proper burial

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A group of relatives of Palestinians killed by Israel demanded Tuesday that the Israeli government exclude their remains from a state plan to bury unidentified remains.

Israel's Haaretz daily reported that 8,000 jars of human remains are to be given a proper burial, under a national program unveiled Sunday by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.

Palestinian relatives insisted that Israel follow through on its agreement with the Palestinian ministry of civil affairs in summer 2011 in which it agreed to release nearly 200 bodies of slain Palestinians.

In a statement, the group condemned Israel's "defiance of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, in which Israel is obligated to return victims of war to their families."

It was not immediately clear if the unidentified remains kept by Israel would include Palestinians.

The burial process will start on May 20, Haaretz reported.

Families who wish to have their loved ones' tissues and organs buried together with relatives, instead of in a mass grave, will be permitted to do so, according to the report.

Published 18/04/2012

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=477375

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Remains' burial project underway

"Final Resting Place," a joint venture by the Health Ministry and the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, which aims to entomb 8,288 organs and tissue samples removed from deceased during autopsies, was officially launched on Sunday.

Health Ministry Director-General Ronny Gamzo told reporters that the first phase of the program will focus on increased efforts to contact all of the families.

The ministry has also set up a special information hotline for any public inquiries.

The Abu Kabir Forensic Institute (AKFI) is scheduled to begin referring remains for burial in May.

The families will be asked to choose between burying the remains in their relatives existing graves or in a specially designated gravesite.

However, the ministry said that families who choose to use an existing gravesite will have to bear the cost. The statement was met with ire from both families and Knesset members alike.

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, who heads ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) also voiced his objection to the project, saying that Judaism mandates that each and every part of a deceased's remains, no matter how minute, be buried.

However, Rabbi Yaakov Rosa, who works with the Forensic Institute, said several rabbis have endorsed the project.

The project was launched following a legal controversy regarding AKFI's right to keep forensic evidence over time.

The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee weighed in on the matter, eventually ruling that AKFI will only be allowed to maintain minimal samples and not entire organs.

The first civil suit in the matter was filed against AKFI last week. The family claims that their loved one's tissues were removed and kept without their consent.

04.17.12

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4216664,00.html

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