Pakistan Returns Body Of Ladakh Minor Swept Into Suru Through Kashmir Crossing

Srinagar: Over a month after a six-year-old boy from Ladakh drowned in the Suru River in Hunderman, his mortal remains returned home on Wednesday after being retrieved from the river in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The handover took place at Teetwal bridge, a crossing point originally built for travel between the two sides of Kashmir’s Kupwara.

Although closed for travel since ties between India and Pakistan hit an all-time low after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the bridge was reopened for the body's repatriation on Tuesday.

A senior Ladakh police officer confirmed receiving the mortal remains from PoK authorities at the bridge on Tuesday. The body was handed to his family in Hunderman on Wednesday morning.

On March 20, the deceased and his friend were playing when they drowned in the river. While one body was recovered from the river soon after the incident, the second floated to PoK’s Baltistan, the officer added. Initially, the Police had filed missing report under FIR (9/2026) at Kargil Police Station, almost 10 kilometers away from the spot where the boys drowned.

"The matter was taken up with higher authorities and the body was fished out on the other side of border," another official added. A political leader from Kargil, Sajjad Kargili who flagged the issue with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said bodies of those swept across the river to the other side are often never returned.

Noting that several bodies floated across the Line of Control and had to be buried in PoK’s Kharmang last year, he requested both countries set up an "exchange point" at Hunderman to facilitate the return of bodies in such cases.

"The dead deserve dignity. Humanity must prevail over hostility," said Kargili. "Similar incidents have occurred in the past where bodies recovered in Kharmang had to be buried there due to the absence of any return mechanism."