Three families from south Kashmir on Thursday staged a protest here in this capital city seeking bodies of the three militants killed in a gun-battle with government forces in Bandipora district of north Kashmir last week.Reports reaching news GNS said that the members of three families from south Kashmir’s Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam this afternoon assembled at Press Colony here and staged a protest over the alleged delay by the authorities in handing over the bodies of their kin to them.The protesters alleged that the authorities were resorting to dilly delaying tactics ever since they demanded the bodies of their kin killed in an encounter by government forces in Bandipora on September 22.“Our brothers were killed by forces with chemical weapons in Bandipora after a 72-hour gunfight. We have been making rounds of government offices to claim their bodies but no one is paying heed to our pleas,” Abdul Ahad Dar, from Kangan village of Pulwama told GNS.
Dar said that one of the militants killed in the encounter was his relative Abdur Rashid Lone, son of Abdul Khaliq Lone.Dar said the families met Deputy Commissioners of Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian to seek their help in getting the bodies of their slain kin.“On September 25, we were told that the bodies will be handed over to us in a week’s time after conducting DNA tests. However, 17 days have passed, the bodies have not been given to us,” he said.Dar said that two other bodies were of Farooq Ahmad Bajran of Keller in Shopian and Bilal Ahmad Dar, son of Abdul Gani Dar of Kulgam.“My son was among the five militants killed by army in Bandipora. When we got to know about his martyrdom, we rushed there. However, they were buried before our arrival,” said Mir Hussain Bajran, a resident of Kellar told GNS.The families demanded immediate handover of the bodies of their kin so that the mortal remains are laid to rest at their respective ancestral graveyards. (GNS)