The cold mountains of Kargil in the Union Territory of Ladakh are witnessing a rare humanitarian crisis. Growing accidents and flash floods in the Suru river have swept away several locals across the Line of Control (LoC) into Baltistan in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) over the past two months. With no exchange point in Ladakh to hand over the bodies, the families of victims witness the burial online, telecast over social media platforms run from Baltistan.
On August 1, Muhammad Hussain, a small businessman from Kargil’s Holiyan village, spotted the body of his missing brother, Shabir Ahmad, on Facebook news pages like ‘Kharmang STAR tv’ run from the Baltistan region. The authorities in Baltistan’s Kharmang Valley shared the description of the body and the belongings, which were widely flashed on social media. The pictures were also shared on joint WhatsApp groups of Balti-speaking families, separated in 1947, in Kargil and Baltistan. A priest in Kharmang district performed the last rites of Ahmad and DNA samples were also collected.
“My brother was drowned in the river after his vehicle met with an accident. We received the information about the body being traced in a village in Kharmang (in PoK). I thank the Senior Superintendent of Police, Deputy Commissioner of Kharmang and the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan for their efforts,” Mr. Hussain said. However, he added that the body was not being sent back. “I appeal to both India and Pakistan to help in getting the body of my brother,” he added.
Ladakh was carved out as a separate UT in 2019 by the Centre. All the exchange points between India and Pakistan to hand over prisoners or bodies exist in the UT of J&K.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Ladakh, S. J. Mahmood said that an accident of a vehicle was reported in Kargil recently with four passengers in it. “Only one body is believed to be traced in an area under Pakistan,” he said, adding that there are no exchange points in Kargil. Traditionally the Kaman Post, in Kashmir’s Baramulla district, was used for handing over bodies. It takes several days from Baltistan to reach the Kaman Post in Uri.
With three locals from Kargil still missing and suspected to have been washed away into PoK, cases like that of Ahmad are growing in Ladakh. On July 15, Belqees Bano, 28, a resident of Akchamal, Kargil, went missing around 6:30 a.m. near the river, only to be fished out in Kharmang on July 26. The victim was wearing a red salway-kameez and green sweater when, under unknown circumstances, she was washed away.
“On the directions of the deputy commissioner, DNA samples have been taken from the family [of Ms. Bano] for identification,” a police officer in Kargil said.
Maulana Muhammad Sharief, a resident of Baltistan’s Kharmang, put out a social media message with details about the final rites of the woman and her identification marks, to inform relatives of the victim in Kargil on the other side of the LoC.
Muzaffar Hussian Wazir, a journalist and human rights activist from Baltistan, told The Hindu, in an email that at least three bodies from Kargil have been recovered in villages of Kharmang over the past month. “One body was beyond recognition. There is a need to have a procedure between the two countries to hand over bodies. Every year, Baltistan reports two to three such cases where bodies from Kargil float into Baltistan. On many occasions, the bodies have reached Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Mr. Wazir said.
In Kargil, a campaign is gaining momentum to pressure both India and Pakistan to jointly set up a mechanism for such cases at the LoC near Hunderman, the village near Kargil adjacent to Baltistan. The village was under Pakistan’s control until the 1971 war.
Sajad Kargili, a local leader and social activist from Kargil, has written to Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Brig. (Dr.) B.D. Mishra, seeking his intervention. “These incidents have deeply touched the hearts of the local community in Kargil, as the families remain deprived of the opportunity to conduct funerals for their departed loved ones and perform their last rites with dignity,” Mr. Kargili said, adding that the involvement of the Army in this process would be vital.
