In a humanitarian gesture, the Indian Army on Thursday handed over to the Pakistan Army the body of a seven-year-old boy it recovered from a stream flowing from across the Line of Control (LoC).
The boy, identified as Abid Ahmad Sheikh, was a resident of Kamri, across the LoC in Gilgit-Baltistan.
On Wednesday, Sheikh's body was seen floating in Burzil Nar by two women of Gurez.
The Army and civil authorities had recovered the body and sought to identify the boy by contacting the nearby villagers. By afternoon there were no respondents, the Army said.
Since the fast-flowing Burzil Nar stream enters India from Gilgit-Baltistan, contact was also established on the other side.
"The Indian Army immediately swung into action and was able to establish the identity of the young boy through civil administration," Army officials said.
According to reports on social media, the Indian Army found that the boy was missing since Monday and might have slipped into the Burzil Nala.
"The response from the other side of the Line of Control was received in due course. A boy was missing from the area of Kamri in Gilgit-Baltistan. Since then, many efforts from the Indian side were made to hand over the mortal remains as soon as possible. The body had started showing signs of decomposition," the Army said.
On Thursday, physical contact was made by a party of the Pakistan Army on the Line of Control to take over the body.
"In accordance to Indian Army ethos, as a humanitarian gesture, the Indian Army established contact with the Pakistan Army on hotline and also convinced the civil administration to facilitate handing over of the body at the earliest," it said.
The local religious head and village elders were taken into confidence to support the gesture of handing over the body to the family of the young boy at the earliest, the Indian Army said.
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