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| 'VDCs heavily aided in curbing terrorism in erstwhile District Doda' | | Why this propaganda? | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 23: With too much being said all over the state, commoners across the board believe that Village Defence Committees (VDCs) have heavily aided in bringing down incidents of terrorism across the state and especially in erstwhile District Doda. There is belief around the erstwhile District Doda Village Defence Committees (VDCs) mushroomed all over Jammu region after large-scale massacres by militants took place. These massacres then took place at place where women and children were afraid to even cry out for help and where nearest police station was two to eight hours trek away. Picking up the gun was the only way to survive for the villagers. That is the lesson 15-year-old Surjeet Singh learnt when he returned to his village Lihota a month after his father had been killed in a pre-dawn strike by militants in July. He found his house burnt to ashes and that he had nothing to wear except a torn uniform.
From that day onwards, Surjeet stays up at night with a .303 in hand, his ears pricked to pick up the - signals - a whistle or the tinkle of bells that VDC members use to block all entry routes to their villages. Shakuntala Devi decided to join the VDC after her husband was also killed in the same Lihota massacre. Such is the dependence on the VDCs now that any ceremony and ritual - be it a wedding or a cremation - is held under the shadow of the gun. Both security officials and villagers acknowledge the impact of the VDCs on the security situation. "Militants no longer have a free run," admit senior police officials. Since they are familiar with the area, VDC members have been providing the security forces with valuable information on the militants' movements and tactics. Thanks to the tips given by villagers, the number of militants killed by security forces almost doubled within months. So far more than 25,000 inhabitants of sprawling Jammu region have formed themselves into self-Defence groups with help from the security forces to combat militancy which has spilled over from the Kashmir valley to these mountainous terrains of erstwhile District Doda. The 1,600-odd Village Defence Committees (VDCs) effectively denied the Pakistan-trained militants and foreign mercenaries safe passage to the high mountains and reduced the number of attacks against the minority Hindus in far-flung areas of erstwhile District Doda. From a scheme launched in 1995 to arm villagers to ward off increasing militancy, the VDCs have now emerged as an organised fighting arm of the state and a major deterrent to the wanton killing of minorities. The then NC led State Government petitioned the then Union Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani for 10,000 self-loading rifles and 1,500 wireless sets rather than additional troops when he visited Jammu during those troublesome days of 1999 to 2003. Sheer size and terrain of Doda - 11,691 sq km of high mountains and thick forests and larger than the entire Kashmir valley - makes the task of guarding this district a logistical nightmare. Initially, the predominantly Hindu villagers here were reluctant to take up arms fearing the militants' wrath, but as militant attacks increased, the VDCs gained momentum from the second half of 1997. Officials accept that the militant threat was major motivating factor behind VDCs picking up arms to defend themselves.
"VDC provided us with a chance to live with dignity instead of getting slaughtered meekly," says Rakesh Kumar, a VDC volunteer in remote Barshalla village, 15 of whose residents were massacred in January 1996. As Jameela Bano, a 19-year-old girl from Prem Nagar village years ago, killing a Hizbul Mujahideen militant. "It's a war that only the locals can fight," she says, cocking her sten gun during firing practice near Doda. The VDCs are doing precisely that-with telling effect.
It needs to be mentioned here that foundation of first women's VDC goes back to March 2003, when a local Muslim priest Mir Hussain was killed by a group of mainly foreign Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorist when he tried to stop the rape of his wife. Priest's brother, Fazal Hussain, returned from the Gulf where he had been working, and with the help of Army constituted first ever-Muslim village committee in the border district of Poonch.
This group helped the Indian Army destroy the biggest militant hideout in the famous Hill Kaka bowl in the mountains of Surankote in July 2003. At least 150 foreign terrorist were killed in the operation. To avenge those killings, a Lashkar group in April 2004 attacked Kulali village and killed 14 women and children while men were out on an operation.
Later, in June 2004, the militants executed another attack, which was repulsed by a woman, Khatoon Begum, who had learned to use a 303 Rifle from her son. Although she died in the attack her act helped save at least a dozen members of her family. |
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