Mass graves of Jammu and Kashmir

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{{Use Indian English|date=September 2024}}

Mass graves of Jammu and Kashmir are mass grave sites in Jammu and Kashmir that were created as a result of extra-judicial killings during the Insurgency in Kashmir.{{cite news |title=Kashmir graves to be investigated |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-south-asia-15273679 |work=BBC News |date=12 October 2011}} An ad-hoc inquiry led by human rights lawyer, Parvez Imroz, has found more than 6,000 unmarked and mass graves.{{cite news |title=The mass graves of Kashmir |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/09/mass-graves-of-kashmir |work=The Guardian |date=9 July 2012}}

In 2009, International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice, a human rights group, released a report saying that 2,700 ‘unknown, unmarked, and mass graves,’ containing at least 2,900 bodies, in 55 villages in North Kashmir's three districts — Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara — were probed. The group demanded an independent investigation into the unmarked mass graves in J&K and an immediate halt of such crimes.{{cite book |title=Buried Evidence: Unknown, Unmarked, and Mass Graves in Indian-administered Kashmir: A Preliminary Report, International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir |date=2009 |ssrn=3240987 |isbn=9780615326481 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3240987 |last1=Chatterji |first1=Angana P. |publisher=International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir }}{{cite news |title=Mass graves found in North Kashmir containing 2,900 unmarked bodies |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Mass-graves-found-in-North-Kashmir-containing-2900-unmarked-bodies/article16851202.ece |work=The Hindu |date=3 December 2009}}{{cite news |title=Kashmir: Thousands of Bodies Discovered in Unmarked Graves, Rights Group Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/world/asia/03briefs-Indiabrf.html |work=New York Times |date=2 December 2009}}

In 2011, a Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission report titled Enquiry Report of Unmarked Graves in North Kashmir said that it found bullet-riddled remains of 2,730 people in dozens of unmarked mass graves after a three-year inquiry.{{cite news |title=Kashmir unmarked graves hold thousands of bodies |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/21/kashmir-unmarked-graves-thousands-bodies |work=The Guardian |date=21 August 2011}}{{cite news |title=Indian Government Confirms Mass Graves in Kashmir |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/indian-govt-confirms-mass-graves-in-indian-kashmir-128151228/167904.html |work=VOA |date=20 August 2011 |language=en |quote=India's Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission released a report Sunday saying a three-year investigation has uncovered 2,156 unidentified bodies in 38 sites in the region.}} Many of those were civilians with 574 being identified as local residents. According to the report, these unidentified dead bodies buried in various unmarked graves at thirty-eight places of north Kashmir’s Baramulla, Bandipora, Handwara, and Kupwara districts, "may contain the dead bodies of enforced disappearances".{{cite news |title=Mass Graves Hold Thousands, Kashmir Inquiry Finds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/world/asia/23kashmir.html |work=The New York Times |date=22 August 2011}} The Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded Indian authorities to "immediately open an independent, transparent, and credible investigation into the unmarked graves discovered" in J&K. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW said that "these graves suggest the possibility of mass murder".{{cite web |title=India: Investigate Unmarked Graves in Jammu and Kashmir |date=24 August 2011 |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/08/24/india-investigate-unmarked-graves-jammu-and-kashmir |publisher=Human Right Watch}} Following the report, Amnesty International also asked the Government of India to "initiate thorough investigations into unmarked graves".{{cite web |title=Thousands of unmarked graves discovered in Kashmir |date=23 August 2011 |url=https://www.amnestyusa.org/thousands-of-unmarked-graves-discovered-in-kashmir/ |publisher=Amnesty International}}{{cite news |title=Amnesty Calls for Investigation into Mass Graves in Kashmir |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/amnesty-calls-for-investigation-into-mass-graves-in-kashmir-128258668/167912.html |work=VOA |date=22 August 2011 |language=en}}

In 2017, J&K's human rights commission asked the government in Kashmir to investigate the discovery of at least 2,080 unmarked mass graves. Khurram Parvez of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), a human rights group in Kashmir, demanded "an independent commission to do a credible probe on the mass graves".{{cite news |title=India ordered to probe 2,080 mass graves in Kashmir |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/3/india-ordered-to-probe-2080-mass-graves-in-kashmir |work=Al Jazeera |date=3 November 2017}} The NGO estimates the number of enforced disappearances in Kashmir's insurgency at around 8,000 men and boys.{{cite news |last1=Peer |first1=Basharat |title=What Lies Beneath |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/09/22/what-lies-beneath-2/ |work=Foreign Policy |date=22 September 2011}}