A Soldier Trekked Through Kashmir Snow, Carrying His Mother's Body

Srinagar: For over 10 hours, a young soldier in Kashmir trekked to his village which lies near the Line of Control. On his shoulder, he carried his mother's dead body, a few relatives accompanying him.  

To reach home and bury his mother there, Mohammed Abbas had to make it through a pass where it has been snowing heavily for the last few days. He walked a distance of nearly 50 km because the road connecting Kupwara to Karnah, a major highway, is covered with nearly six feet of snow.

Villagers helped carve out a route through the thick layers of snow.

Not too far away, a series of avalanches have killed nearly 20 soldiers in recent days. Power and communication lines in some  parts of the Kashmir Valley remain cut off.

Mr Abbas, 25, is posted in Pathankot; his mother, Sakeena Begum, who lived with him, died six days ago. After returning to Kashmir with her body, the jawan says the local administration had  promised that a helicopter would be arranged to take him home to his village in Karnah.
 "It is very humiliating. I'm not able to give a decent burial to my mother. The administration kept us waiting with the body but they never sent the helicopter," he told NDTV. "It was a dangerous trek. We were stomping through snow with my mother's body. It's an avalanche-prone zone that we were moving through."

The solider reached his village last evening with his mother's dead body and performed the last rites. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of villagers.
 Officials in the district of Kupwara say they had arranged  for a helicopter yesterday. "We had arranged a chopper, but the family refused the facility because they were not sure about the weather and whether the helicopter could take off" said a senior officer who asked not to be named. He said men and machinery are being used to clear the highway that Mr Abbas is traversing.

The jawan denies the government's claim. "We waited for four days hoping for some government help. This morning, officials in Kupwara refused to take our calls," he said, visibly upset.

Mr Ghulam Mohammad Dar, the Deputy Commissioner of Kupwara, said that the highway will be cleared by this evening and will be re-opened for traffic tomorrow morning.