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Mass Graves
issue: Soz to meet Defence Minister
WSN Bureau
SRINAGAR: Indian Water Resources Minister Saif-ud-Din Soz has again
brought the spotlight on the issue of mass graves in Kashmir, saying
he would take up the matter with Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
On the sidelines
of a rally in Handwara in north-west Kashmir on Saturday, Soz told
reporters that he came to know about the mass graves only on Friday.
The issue, which
was highlighted by the Association of Parents of Disappeared People
more than three weeks ago, has been on the front pages of newspapers
since then. It was reported that 940 graves have been discovered in
villages around Uri and that these might be of the "disappeared
people."
Soz's statement
has come at a time when Kashmiri separatists and global human rights
groups are pressing for a probe into the issue. Even the National
Conference has demanded an independent probe. Director General of
Police Kuldip Khoda, at a recent press conference in Srinagar early
this week, had stated that these were the graves of foreign
militants, killed while infiltrating from across the border. He had
said that local Imams or priests and villagers knew everything about
it, while maintaining that the police had nothing do with it. An
international human rights watch group, Amnesty International, while
urging the Centre to launch an immediate probe into the mass graves,
had observed that "the multiple graves exist in areas that are not
accessible without the specific permission of the security forces,
due to their proximity to Pakistan controlled-areas."
Since 2006,
graves of at least 940 people were reported to have been discovered
in 18 villages in Uri alone.
23 April 2008
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