NEW DELHI — Top bureaucratic officials confirmed Tuesday that relying entirely on random, ad-hoc bursts of compassion remains the preferred strategy for repatriating the remains of citizens swept across the Line of Control.

Speaking shortly after the temporary reopening of the Kaman bridge—which had remained closed since 2019 until it was briefly unlocked in 2025 to return a drowned couple—authorities praised the current system. "Why establish a depoliticized standing mechanism when we can wait for a tragedy in the Suru River and then stage a highly publicized handover?" asked one official. The official cited a 2019 incident where soldiers coordinated a return for a seven-year-old's body, successfully branding it a "humanitarian gesture" without the bureaucratic hassle of making it a permanent policy.

Records indicate the lack of a formal agreement allows both governments to avoid regular coordination. Administrators noted that a permanent mechanism would eliminate the traditional exercise of "repeatedly taking it up" with counterparts for five months, as was required when a Rajouri resident's body washed away in 2018. Bureaucrats also praised the efficiency of a 2026 funeral on the Kishanganga river banks, where siblings were permitted to watch the burial from opposite sides of the border without any officials having to sign ongoing cross-LoC paperwork.

"A permanent exchange point for grieving Kargil families would just be an unnecessary commitment," a ministry spokesperson explained. "True humanitarianism is making sure these gestures remain as rare and unpredictable as the river currents themselves."