Srinagar, April 29, 2023 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India has raised all-Hindu militia, Village Defence Guards (VGDs – previously known as Village Defence Committees or VDCs) in the Jammu region to terrorize the local Muslims and suppress the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom movement.
The members of the Indian Army-backed this dreaded militia have martyred hundreds of Muslims in the Jammu region in the past, particularly after 1989 when the Kashmiri people intensified their freedom struggle.
The Indian authorities announced to recruit the members of the VGDs last year and Indian Army and paramilitary Central Reserve Force (CRPF) have trained and armed 5,000 Hindus in Rajouri, Poonch and other districts of Jammu so far. This Hindu militia is in addition to the nearly one million Indian troops permanently stationed across IIOJK to suppress the Kashmiris’ struggle for securing their right to self-determination.
Indian forces’ personnel and members of this militia have martyred hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris in the last over seven decades for demanding freedom from India’s illegal occupation of their homeland and accession of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan. The raising of new units of VGDs has created a sense of fear among the Muslims of the Jammu region.
“My worry is about the way weapons are now being distributed among only one (Hindu) community,” said an elderly Muslim living in Dhangri area of Rajouri district, on the condition of anonymity. “Now weapons are being brandished around by young ones. This is not good for any one of us. I sense a growing tension,” he added.
It is to mention here that as the weapons have been issued to the VDG members without any regulations and control mechanism, there are high chances of the mishandling and misuse of these guns. There are more than 200 FIRs related to the cases of murder, rape, rioting and extortion registered against the VDG (VDC) members in various districts.
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