PoK authorities hand over bodies of 2 missing persons from J&K to Indian officials

Srinagar, Mar 22 (PTI) Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) authorities handed over the bodies of two persons, who had drowned in the Jhelum river, to their Indian counterparts at the Kaman post along the Line of Control on Saturday, officials said.

Yasir Hussain Shah, from the Busgran area of Uri in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, and Asiya Bano, from the Kundi Barjala area of Uri, had reportedly jumped into the river on March 5.

After a long search to trace the two, Shah’s body was spotted floating near the Kaman post along the LoC in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on March 20.

“Police and rescue teams attempted to retrieve it, but it drifted to the other side of the LoC due to strong currents,” one of the officials said.

The authorities from the Indian side took the matter up with officials across the LoC, who eventually retrieved both the bodies from the river.

A meeting was held at the Kaman post in Uri on Saturday, where officials from the Uri administration, including the SDPO, SHO, naib and tehsildar, Indian Army and their counterparts from the other side as well as the parents of the deceased were present, the officials said, adding that a team of doctors was also there.

The officials from Uri received the bodies, they said.

The duo had been missing since March 5, after they reportedly jumped into the Jhelum in Dulanja village near the LoC.