A Muslim cleric from the army presided over a respectful if abbreviated minute-long service. When he chanted ''Allah akbar,'' ''God is great,'' six Hindu soldiers dutifully answered, ''Allah akbar.''

The bodies, covered with Pakistani flags, were then lowered into a grave barely two feet deep. It is hard to gouge out a resting place here. Up this high, the Himalayas are like a moonscape of outcroppings and craters, their colors changing from brown to black to purple. The surface is covered with sharp chips of slate. Not far below is solid rock.

The five men had been dead for at least 10 days. As they were placed into the hole, the flags were removed. One man's leg fluttered about as if no solid bone was left to hold its shape. Another had but the smallest remnant of a right foot.

The dead, by India's account, were among 53 of the enemy who had been killed during a two-day battle for the peak that ended on July 6. The invaders had used what was then known as Point 4875 as a perch for shelling a key Indian highway.

''We advanced on them inch by inch under the cover of artillery fire and flame throwers and rocket launchers,'' said Maj. Vikas Vohra. ''When we finally came upon them, some were taking meals. Their tea was piping hot. They were caught completely unawares.''

None of those buried today were identified by name, but the officers atop Gun Hill showed off several items that they presented as proof of a Pakistani military presence. There were identification cards from Pakistan's 12th Northern Light Infantry and army pay books. There was a letter from a soldier to his family.

Such evidence is easy to falsify, as the Pakistanis have charged. And indeed nothing that was presented by the Indians was conclusive.