For decades, the Kashmir Valley has been turned into a battleground not just of separatism and its associated terrorism but of narratives. Over the decades, Pakistan’s military intelligence establishment ISI has worked tirelessly to project Kashmir as a site of “state oppression," using every available platform, from international NGOs to global media, to amplify allegations of mass human rights violations by Indian security forces. One of the most controversial and emotionally charged issues that Islamabad and its separatist allies in the Valley have repeatedly used to malign India is the so-called phenomenon of “unmarked graves."

But a critical, evidence-based study of this issue completely debunks its propaganda and reveals a very different stark reality. Far from being proof of a state-led campaign of mass killings, the unmarked graves of Kashmir are a complex byproduct of three decades of Pakistan sponsored terrorism, foreign infiltration, and the brutal hybrid war unleashed on the region. To understand this, it is essential to deconstruct the conflict in its historical, political, and operational context, while exposing how Pakistan and separatist organizations have twisted this humanitarian issue for propaganda purposes.

A recent report by an NGO “Save Youth Save Future" (SYSF) has published a critical report debunking the decades old propaganda spun around the unmarked graves by the Pakistani backed separatists and its proxy organisations. The study conducted by SYSF after extensive ground work has revealed a stark reality. Their study is based on the survey conducted across four districts of the Kashmir valley, surveying 373 graveyards and identifying 4,056 unmarked graves in total. Out of 4,056 unmarked graves, 2,493 graves have been identified as that of foreign terrorists who were pushed across the LoC by Pakistan to wage so-called jihad in the Valley. About 1208 graves were further identified of local terrorists who were killed in encounters with security forces across the Valley. A further 70 graves were identified of tribal raiders who had invaded the Valley in 1947. Nine graves of civilians were also identified. The report further identifies 276 unidentified graves that require further forensic and DNA testing to identify the corpses.

This study which was conducted on using proper research tools including geo tagging of the sites, triangulation of FIR’s lodged with subsequent encounter reports, graveyard records with oral testimony of grave diggers and clerics who carried out the last rights of the killed people has finally........

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