Rustam
JAMMU, Aug 28: The disturbers of peace and enemies of humanity did disturb peace for a day or two in Kishtwar district in the second week of this month by playing a mischief, but the violence was taken by the nationalists in Jammu and Kashmir to mean an opportunity to reiterate their resolve to defeat the scourge of terrorism and separatism and maintain the territorial integrity of India.
Ever since the day when violence engulfed Kishtwar, almost all the Jammu-based political parties and groups, barring the NC and ilk which are patently divisive and communal, have been demonstrating remarkable unity against those using the violence as an opportunity to demand disbanding of the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) or counter-insurgency groups.
All these political parties, plus non-political formations such as the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association Jammu, have declared in one voice that they will not allow the critics of the VDCs - all belonging to the Kashmir-based separatist and other organizations - to succeed in their sinister game plan. "We will not allow anyone to disarm and disband the VDCs which have been playing a remarkable role in combating terrorism and protecting the lives of innocent civilians," they, without any exception, have declared. Not just that. They have also urged the authorities to further strengthen this institution by providing them more sophisticated arms, saying the situation over the period has worsened in the mountainous and hilly areas of Jammu province. What has alarmed them all the more is the prevailing tension on the international border and the Line of Control (LoC).
"Pakistan and the Pakistani army, besides terror outfits, have intensified their anti-India activities. They are violating the ceasefire almost everyday. They are breaching the LoC. They are targeting our soldiers and paramilitaries. The need of the time is not only to give a freehand to the Army, the BSF and the CRPF so that they could respond appropriately but also to strengthen further the institution of VDCs, as the separatists and militants have started regrouping themselves in Jammu province in general and its mountainous and hilly areas in particular," they have been saying since August 9. Significantly, even the Muslim members of the VDCs are denouncing those who have been demanding disbanding of these institutions.
The VDCs were constituted in 1995 during the Narasimha Rao regime to fight cross-border terrorism and protect villagers in the areas not easily accessible by the Army and paramilitary forces because of the nature of their terrain. Those were the days when militants and Kashmiri separatists were wrecking havoc in the erstwhile Doda district, the twin-border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and converted the City of Temples, Jammu, into a city of bomb blasts. |
