People of two villages clash to claim body of Pak terrorist

Residents of two villages in Kashmir on Friday clashed with each other over the burial of Pakistani terrorist Abu Qasim’s body. 

Qasim, a top commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and mastermind of Uddhampur attack case, was killed in an encounter on Thursday.

Qasim’s body was buried in Bugam village of Kulgam district but people from the same district’s Khandaypora, where he was killed, wanted the body to be exhumed for burial in their village, police sources said.

Thousands of people participated in the funeral prayers for Qasim, whose real name was Abdul Rehman and hailed from Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Multan district. 

However, residents of Khandaypora went to Bugam, demanding that Qasim’s body be exhumed so that he could be buried in their village where he died, police sources said.

To lay claim over his body, a family from Khandaypora village even claimed that Qasim was their “long lost son”, who had joined militancy 15 years ago. The residents of two villages then clashed over this issue, they said. 

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) SJM Gillani said the two villages have resolved the issue and no exhumation will be done.