After Jammu Terror Attacks, Civilian Village Guards Get Weapons Upgrade

The Jammu and Kashmir government has started a massive exercise to arm civilian guards in villages with semi-automatic rifles to defend against terrorist attacks following the attacks earlier this month in Rajouri district. Dozens of civilian groups formed for village defense were given SLRs (Self-Loading Rifle) in and around Dangri village, where terrorists attacked Hindu families a week ago. The new rifles replaced the .303 guns that was allotted to them earlier.

Retired army and paramilitary men are also being roped in for the civilian defense groups. Rajesh Kumar, an ex-serviceman, said the new weapon has given him enough confidence to take on terrorist if they try to attack the village again. "I want to protect my village. As a soldier, when we could protect whole country, protecting a village is small thing," he said.

Dangri has 70 village guards with .303 rifles. Dheeraj Shama, the local BJP leader and sarpanch of Dangri village, is playing a key role to identity and enroll new defence guards. After terrorist attack of January 1, in which seven people were killed, many more are queuing up for guns.

Mr Sharma says giving weapons to every family will help save lives and end terrorism. "Militancy can be stopped by Village Defense Groups and when there are weapons in every home," he said. While security forces play their role, they can't protect every family. "Even if you deploy 180 companies of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), it can't protect every home," he said.

After revamping the Village Defense Groups, security agencies have also started training sessions for villagers, so they serve as a line of defense against terrorism.

At Kotranka area of Rajouri, dozens of villagers are being trained by the CRPF and their weapons are checked. "We are training them, so they can deal with any eventuality," said Inspector Varinder Kumar of CRPF.

The defense committees were first set up almost 30 years ago in Doda district, when the law-and-order machinery had literally collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir.

The administration was criticised for abdicating its responsibility to protect common people and arming village groups to help villagers to defend against terrorist attacks. Eventually, role of VDCs was diminished as security forces regained control of the situation.

In many areas, however, preventing misuse of weapons allotted to the VDC remains a serious concern. More than 200 FIRs are registered against VDC (renamed as VDG) members in various districts. These include cases of murder, rape, rioting and drugs. On Monday evening, panic gripped a village after a guard opened fire due to suspicious moment.

There are 28,000 VDGs in the Jammu region and more are queuing up for weapons.