SRINAGAR: The relatives of one of the two militants killed in Gangabal encounter in Ganderbal district on September 28, protested in Srinagar on Thursday demanding handing over of his body without waiting for DNA test.
They were accusing district administration for refusing to handover the body of the slain militant – Qamr-u-din, who they said was their kin.
Adil Hussain War, brother of the slain militant said, “We only came to know through the photograph shown to us by the police that one of the slain militants in the encounter was my brother Qamr-u-din, who had left home on 7th April 2018 and since then they had no information about his whereabouts.”
He said, “After getting to know that the photograph was that of my brother, we approached the district administration and police to allow us to exhume the body, buried in Naranag forest by the police, we were refused the permission, despite having identified our kin, on the pretext that the body cannot be handed over to them, till the DNA report of the deceased militants is not received by the police.”
“What is the relevance of DNA report for handing over the dead body to us, when we have already identified our kin?” he added.
Mother of slain militant, Nasima, while claiming that one of the dead militants was her son said, “I am his mother and mother’s eyes can never fail to recognize her son, even if it is the photograph of his dead body, but police is refusing to hand over his dead body to us, even after I have identified my son.”
The protestors demanded that the dead body of the slain should be immediately exhumed and handed over to them, without waiting for DNA report, so that the dead militant may get proper burial in his ancestral graveyard.
The encounter, in which police claimed to have killed two militants, occurred in the upper reaches of hilly Naranag hamlet of Kangan tehsil in Ganderbal district on 28th of last month.
The encounter longed for several days and security forces had to press helicopters and commandos into service to flush out the militants hiding in the forest area.

KR Desk