SRINAGAR: The demand for disbanding Village Defence Committees (VDCs) are getting more support following the killing of National Conference youth leader allegedly by an armed VDC member in Rajouri on Sunday.
Independent Legislator Engineer Rashed has described these VDCs as state sponsored terrorist gangs while another legislator Hakim Muhammad Yasin called these committees as terror committees with license to suppress innocent people.
Cutting across party lines almost all the National Conference and independent legislators as well as majority of PDP and Congress members from Kashmir are of the opinion that the time is ripe for the government to disband VDCs that according to these legislators indulge in arson, loot, murder, extortion, kidnapping, molestation, rape and other anti-social acts off and on.
National Conference general secretary, Ali Muhammad Sagar, said that VDCs have become threat to life and property of the people and they should be asked to handover the weapons.
Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and legislator Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami described the killing of National Conference youth leader as heinous. The VDC members have proved that they are more dangerous than terrorists, he said. This whole organization (VDCs) should be disbanded and all the members should be disarmed without any delay.
One fails to understand what prevents the government from disarming these terrorist committees when militancy in the State is all time low. These VDC members are killers who always target a particular community, said former member parliament Abdul Rashid Kabuli.
Chairman Hurriyat (G) Syed Ali Geelani said that besides the army and paramilitary forces, India has created an another organized state terrorist force in Kashmir in the name of VDCs and this terrorist force is directly controlled by the Indian home ministry.
Reiterating his demand of disbanding the VDC forces, Geelani said that this force has been created to suppress the Muslims and there was no accountability system in place to check their atrocities.
Describing Rajouri incident as heartbreaking and intolerable, Geelani said that the Muslim identity of any Kashmiri irrespective of his political affiliations and beliefs is considered as a big crime and in front of the communal forces, the punishment of this crime is not less than the death penalty.
The incident has created a sense of fear in the entire Rajouri and Jammu division and the Muslims of this region are very much concerned about their safety, he said. These people consider themselves above the law and the state government has no control over their activities.
He said the force is directly handled by the Indian secret agencies and the home ministry of Delhi and on their directions these criminals are harassing the Muslims in every possible ways.
Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani said that the Rajouri incident is an open lesson for the National Conference (NC) itself who in their regime were defending these forces and were hiding their crimes against the Muslims of that region. They (NC) should understand that their treachery can do nothing good for them and one day the very communal elements will have no mercy for them too, he said.
The VDCs in Jammu and Ladakh were created during Governors rule in 1995. According to official figures, there are over 26500 VDC members operating in 10 districts of Jammu and Leh district of Ladakh region. These Committees were constituted to supplement Indian Forces to combat militancy besides protecting the local population of villages.
Right from 1995, these VDC members have been indulging in social crimes while there anti-social acts sparked multiple protests from Muslim community in Jammu region particularly in Chenab Valley. The people of Chenab Valley have been subjected to worst atrocities by VDCs and their cries go unheard. VDCs, that comprise non-Muslims, have been unleashing terror in the areas of Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch, claimed Legislator Engineer.
Senior Hurriyat leader Aaga Syed Hasan said that these VDCs arrest Muslim youth under fake cases and project them as militants.
They are involved in extortion, issuing threats, kidnapping of Muslim girls and even rapes, another separatist leader, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, said. The only thing is their atrocities dont come to fore, he said. that after committing every social crime.
A police official requesting not to be named said that scores of FIRs against VDC members for their alleged involvement in social crimes.
In September 2010, a VDC member was disarmed and arrested for allegedly making a rape bid on a girl in Badherwah. In July 2013, 4 persons including the brother of a Village Defence Committee (VDC) member were arrested after they kidnapped and raped a 15-year-old girl in Kuntwara, a remote village of Kishtwar district. In July this year, a VDC member was arrested for firing shots, triggering panic and terror among the people in Rajouri district.
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