J&K: Jawan forced to trek through snow, carries mother's dead body on shoulder

In a tragic incident, an Army jawan was forced to carry his mother’s body on his shoulder, braving inclement weather.

File photo

New Delhi: In a tragic incident, an Army jawan was forced to carry the dead body of his 60-year-old mother on his shoulder and walk nearly 10 kilometers, braving inclement weather.

Muhammad Abbas, an Army jawan from Karnah tehsil in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara, was posted at Pathankot. He brought his mother to Pathankot to stay with him to avoid the biting cold in Kashmir. However, on January 28, Abbas's mother suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away. 

The next morning, the Army jawan drove his mother's body to Srinagar to go to Karnah. However, the road was blocked due to the bad weather. He asked for the help of the Army so that his mother’s body is flown to their village. 

Abbas approached the District Administration of Kupwara for arranging a helicopter so that he could take his mother's body back home so that she could be laid to rest.

When no help arrived for three days due to the bad weather conditions, Abbas, along with a few relatives who had joined him in Kupwara, started walking carrying the body in 5 to 6 feet of snow. 

Finally, with the support of few relatives and villagemen, the soldier yesterday decided to trek the distance of 50 kilometres through snow-bound mountains over Sadhna Top with the body of his mother lugged over four shoulders.

The last rites ceremony was attended by hundreds of villagers.

"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 the snow with my mother's body. It's an avalanche-prone zone that we were moving through."

Meanwhile, the Indian Army has issued a statement saying all help was provided for the transportation of the jawan’s mother’s body.

They said by the time a chopper was arranged, the relatives of the deceased had set off for the journey by foot.

A defence spokesman said the army had provided all assistance for transportation of mortal remains of the mother of the soldier.

"All assistance for transportation of mortal remains of mother of the soldier, keeping the weather and snow conditions in mind, was made available by the unit of the jawans as well as by other army units en route," Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.