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Binoo Joshi in Jammu
The Centre has shot down a proposal to arm village vigilantes in Jammu & Kashmir with automatic assault rifles, informed sources said.
Though the home ministry reportedly did not offer any reason for rejecting the proposal, sources in Jammu said arming the village defence committees with automatic rifles would have appeared odd when the state's police force is yet to switch over to modern weapons.
The security forces, including the Indian Army, are reportedly unhappy with this decision. "It is not a good decision," said an army officer, as he felt the federal government's move would "deprive security forces of a big support from the VDCs".
Interestingly, the proposal to equip the VDCs with modern arms was vociferously supported by the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the National Democratic Alliance, the ruling coalition at the Centre.
Most of the state's nearly 5,000 VDCs are in the Jammu, Kathua, Doda, Udhampur, Rajouri and Poonch districts that make up the Jammu region.
Each VDC consists of eight to 11 volunteers, who are mostly ex-servicemen well-versed in the use of weapons. All of them are armed with Enfield .303 rifles and the group as a whole is paid Rs 1,500 as monthly allowance.
Since their inception in 1994 as the first line of defence in the far-flung villages of the state, the VDCs have repulsed many attacks by terrorists.
But the VDCs have been complaining for some time that they are handicapped by their antiquated weapons in their fight against the terrorists, who see them as primary targets.
Surinder Singh, a VDC member in Udranana village near Bhaderwah in Jammu district, has shifted to Jammu City for the safety of his family.
"We were like sitting ducks there. Militants would come and kill VDCs and their families and run away. We couldn't do much because our weaponry was outdated and there were no communication facilities available to seek help from the forces," Singh said.
Communication facilities are crucial as villages are located far apart from each other in many districts. For instance, in Doda district the population density is 59 per square kilometre. Here, communication is as important as weapons, said Singh.
Indo-Asian News Service
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