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| Dangerous moves appear afoot to disarm VDCs | | Time to eliminate enemies of humanity | | II Stark Reality II
Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 11: Fanatic and separatist APHC-M chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday demanded the disbanding of Village Defence Committees (VDCs), saying that the "VDCs are the root cause for communal disharmony in the State". "We strongly condemn the communal clashes and demand impartial probe to nab and punish those involved in such anti social activities…Information received reveals that VDC members are behind the communal clashes. VDC members have been found indulging in criminal activities in the past. They are the root cause for communal disharmony and we demand immediate disbanding of it," Mirwaiz told to a local news agency.
Mirwaiz is not the only fanatic and separatist who demanded disbanding of the VDCs, which have been playing an important role in the crusade against anti-India movement and protecting the lives of the minority community for more than 15 years now. On August 9 as well, certain elements in Kishtwar had also accused the members of the VDCs of fomenting communal trouble.
On August 9, the extremists struck in Kishtwar and targeted members of minority community. The attack, which appears to be meticulously planned and well executed, resulted in the brutal murder of two civilians, critical injuries to more than 100 others, loot and arson on an unprecedented scale, migration of members of the minority community, and burning down of about 150 shops and other business establishments belonging to the same community. Sadly, the civil and police administration did not act for hours together, thus allowing the anti-national elements to enact anti-India and anti-minority despicable Act. Curfew was clamped at about 2 pm but was not enforced till 7.45 pm for reasons not difficult to fathom.
On the contrary, the vested interests accused the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) of playing a dubious role to aggravate the situation. They condemned as "infamous" the VDCs and said "the violent protests here have once again put infamous Village Defence Committees (VDCs) under scanner". Some locals said that "some VDC members used government weapon to target youth from a particular community, which aggravated the situation> One of them said, "Government has to explain who fired at the youth who are admitted in the district hospital here". In other words, they sought to create an impression that the trouble was started by the minority community. How ridiculous!
Everyone knows that a mob of over 1200 persons belonging to a particular community raised anti-India and anti-minority community slogans and when the latter objected, a reign of terror was let loose against them by the armed extremists and communal elements.
There are reports to the effect that "the government had armed a particularly community (read minority community) here during the peak militancy period but the same weapons are now being used against civilians" (read members of the majority community). More importantly, there are also reports to the effect that "Police sources, on the condition of anonymity, also admitted that the VDC members were under scanner for using official weapons during the clash" and that "they said that a list of Village Defence Committee members was drawn up quickly so that the arms given to them could be withdrawn". "We are looking into the matter", the Police reportedly also claimed.
What is all this going on? Has the NC-Congress government decided to allow the fanatics to cleanse the Kishtwar and the areas around it of the non-Muslims? These are the questions which must be asked considering the manner in which the civil and police administration behaved. The need of the time is to further strengthen the VDCs and armed them with sophisticated weapons so that they could defeat the protagonists of Pakistan and votaries of Greater Kashmir comprising Kashmir and Muslim-majority areas of Jammu Pradesh and Ladakh region. Yet another need of the time is to give a free hand to the Army so that it eliminates the anti-India elements and restore peace in the area on a permanent basis. There is no other option available, as things have deteriorated to the maximum extent. Any failure on the part of New Delhi to rise to the occasion will help the extremists to cleanse Kishtwar and adjoining areas of the non-Muslims and if it at all happens, the results would be disastrous for the country. |
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