Families to assist in DNA profiling

Families of missing people in Kashmir said on Wednesday they would cooperate with the government when it attempts to establish the identities of those lying in unmarked graves. Peerzada Ashiq reports.

Families of missing people in Kashmir said on Wednesday they would cooperate with the government when it attempts to establish the identities of those lying in unmarked graves.

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This comes a day after chief minister Omar Abdullah agreed for identity-testing through genetic methods involving DNA-related data. He said: “Every missing person is not dead. Some of them are living across the border.”

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in its preliminary report suggested there were 38 graveyards in north Kashmir. It suspects these graves contain bodies of 2,500 people.

“DNA sampling by those agencies will not help at all. There are crucial instances in which DNA samples were fudged by investigating agencies. So DNA profiling must be done by some credible international expert group,” said Yaseen Malik, spokesman of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP).