In an act of cross-border cooperation, Indian Army handed over a body of a boy who had drowned in Minimarg area of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and floated down across the border.
According to reports, Indian army troops recovered a body of a seven-year-old boy at Kishanganga River in the north-western part of Jammu and Kashmir in Gurez sector. It turned out that the boy identified as Aabid Ahmad Sheikh was missing since Monday and had accidentally drowned in the river.
The boy’s body was handed over to Pakistan as soon as it was recovered at Dudgai post in Chorwan area of the LoC.
According to reports,
The Army acted after Pakistani authorities flagged the issue of sending back Sheikh’s body. But it was an emotive appeal by the boy’s father and uncles on social media that prompted the Army to act swiftly.
Protocol dictates that in such a case, two parties must establish meeting points. However, in the light of the sensitive matter, the Indian Army offered to hand over the child’s body to Pakistan at Gurez itself.
The Pakistan Army was keen on having an official exchange through the Teetwal crossing in Kupwara district, over 200 km away. But the Indian army worried that the body will decompose and chose to cross the mines covering the Gurez area.
The Indian Army preserved the body in ice blocks carved out from the mountainside and reportedly, the Indian team went through a minefield maze to the Line of Control.
At this gesture, an army officer added,
This time, instead of returning it through official exchange points like Teetwal, we did so in the same area so that the mortal remains do not get decomposed…it was a humanitarian gesture.
Twitter too lauded the humane gesture.