Last Updated on: 10th July 2023, 01:19 pm
Why is India Arming Villagers in Occupied Jammu And Kashmir?
India has restarted its village defense program in Kashmir after a recent spate of deadly attacks. The decision to send arms to the disputed region was condemned.
Authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir are arming and training thousands of residents across the border region to defend against attacks by “armed insurgents”. But leaders in the troubled region have criticized the move.
Many villagers were armed with automatic rifles and received defense training for “terrorist attack” scenarios, authorities said. It comes amid a recent increase in violence against the region’s Hindu minority.
The decision to revive the groups, originally formed in the 1990s, was made by authorities in March last year, but the formation was sped up after an attack in Dangri, a remote village in the Rajouri district of south Jammu.
On the evening of January 1, while villagers were preparing dinner, two gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on a row of apartment buildings in the village, which is close to the Line of Control (LOC), a line of demarcation between India and administered Pakistan. parts of the disputed region. Four civilians were shot.
A day later, as villagers mourned the dead, two children, aged 5 and 12, were killed in an explosion near one of the houses attacked the previous day. Several people were also injured in the incident, and a seventh civilian died a few days later.
The incident sparked protests from local residents. There have also been calls for the reactivation and regrouping of the Village Defense Guards (VDG), formerly called the Village Defense Committees (VDC).
Dangri Villagers Ready To Defend
Dheeraj Sharma, a village chief in Dangri, Rajouri district, where the incident took place, told DW that 200 to 300 people have been trained in the village over the past two weeks and weapons have been issued by the authorities.
“There was great fear in the city after the incident. The fear is disappearing now,” Sharma said, adding that the villagers were ready to fight back and protect themselves.
Sharma accused the government of ignoring these groups for many years.
“Following this incident, many residents are also in the process of acquiring armed licenses.”
Volunteers from armed government-backed villages were trained in southern districts of Jammu in 1995. It consisted mainly of members of the Hindu community from the remote border districts who were preparing to fight the “armed insurrection”.
From a few thousand members initially, the number has grown over the years to 27,000 who are now being revived with new volunteers.
But after violence in the region subsided in the early 2000s, the groups disbanded with no official explanation. Many members of the armed groups say they have not been paid for years, forcing them to surrender their weapons.
Residents Wishing To Register
Following the recent incident, the VDGs of many districts in the region are regrouping with new training and weapons. Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah has promised to establish a “360-degree circle of security” in the region.
Sanjay Sharma, 40, from Rajouri District, received training last week.
“Everyone wants to be there to protect the villages from terrorist threats,” Sharma told DW.
“Men and women, everyone is ready to defend.”
Varinder Kumar, an officer with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Rajouri, told the media that after the recent killings, they were transferred to Rajouri to help with training.
Those who have led armed patrols for years also welcomed the move.
“We asked the government for help. After the attack, the government finally woke up,” Uttam Chand, deputy chairman of the VDG in Kathua district, told DW.
“We are happy that more people are coming to us. The residents know the topography of their areas and can defend themselves well.”
Fan The Flames in Kashmir
But there were also many voices condemning New Delhi’s decision to arm residents of this hotly contested region, claimed by both India and Pakistan and home to an insurgent separatist movement.
The two neighboring nuclear powers have fought two of their three wars in Kashmir. New Delhi also accused Islamabad of supporting and arming the insurgents.
In August 2019, tensions in the region escalated when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in New Delhi unilaterally stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its limited autonomy and divided the region into two, Jammu and Kashmir and the other Ladakh.
This decision has exacerbated the already troubled relations between India and Pakistan. It also faced opposition from local politicians and residents, but the BJP government defended the decision, saying it would bring progress to the region and crush the armed insurgency.
But three years later, the violence is still relevant. Fighting between insurgents and Indian forces is still ongoing, and attacks on Hindus and migrant workers have increased.
The latest attack in the Rajouri district has raised fears that violence is now spilling over into areas once spared by conflict.
Financing Human Rights Violations
There are also concerns about previous charges against the VDG for alleged criminal activity and human rights abuses.
Shafiq Mir, president of the All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC), an association of village leaders in the region, told DW putting guns in the hands of civilians “will not have good consequences.”
“The government should step up security operations in sensitive areas instead of giving people guns. Weapons must not be handed over to a civilian community,” Mir said.
“These firearms have historically been used to resolve family disputes.”
The region’s former prime minister Mehbooba Mufti also criticized the move, saying the revival of the groups contradicted the government’s claims of normalcy in the region.
There are 221 gender-based violence cases for alleged involvement in violent crimes such as murder and rape. These groups received monthly payments of around 4,000 rupees ($49) from the local government.
However, VDG boss Uttam Chand said the abuse of power would be punished.
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