Srinagar:

The Jammu and Kashmir authorities has began a large train to arm civilian guards in villages with semi-automatic rifles to defend in opposition to terrorist assaults following the assaults earlier this month in Rajouri district. Dozens of civilian teams shaped for Village protection got SLRs (Self-Loading Rifle) in and round Dangri village, the place terrorists attacked Hindu households per week in the past. The brand new rifles changed the .303 weapons that was allotted to them earlier.

Retired military and paramilitary males are additionally being roped in for the civilian protection teams. Rajesh Kumar, an ex-serviceman, mentioned the brand new weapon has given him sufficient confidence to tackle terrorist in the event that they attempt to assault the village once more. “I need to defend my village. As a soldier, once we might defend complete nation, defending a village is small factor,” he mentioned.

Dangri has 70 village guards with .303 rifles. Dheeraj Shama, the native BJP chief and sarpanch of Dangri village, is enjoying a key function to identification and enroll new defence guards. After terrorist assault of January 1, during which seven individuals had been killed, many extra are queuing up for weapons.

Mr Sharma says giving weapons to each household will assist save lives and finish terrorism. “Militancy could be stopped by Village Protection Teams and when there are weapons in each house,” he mentioned. Whereas safety forces play their function, they can not defend each household. “Even should you deploy 180 corporations of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Drive), it may’t defend each house,” he mentioned.

After revamping the Village Protection Teams, safety businesses have additionally began coaching periods for villagers, in order that they function a line of protection in opposition to terrorism.

At Kotranka space of Rajouri, dozens of villagers are being educated by the CRPF and their weapons are checked. “We’re coaching them, to allow them to take care of any eventuality,” mentioned Inspector Varinder Kumar of CRPF.

The protection committees had been first arrange virtually 30 years in the past in Doda district, when the law-and-order equipment had actually collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir.

The administration was criticised for abdicating its duty to guard frequent individuals and arming village teams to assist villagers to defend in opposition to terrorist assaults. Finally, function of VDCs was diminished as safety forces regained management of the state of affairs.

In lots of areas, nevertheless, stopping misuse of weapons allotted to the VDC stays a critical concern. Greater than 200 FIRs are registered in opposition to VDC (renamed as VDG) members in varied districts. These embody instances of homicide, rape, rioting and medicines. On Monday night, panic gripped a village after a guard opened hearth as a consequence of suspicious second.

There are 28,000 VDGs within the Jammu area and extra are queuing up for weapons.