Moderate Kashmiri separate leader demands India to disarm village defense committees

SRINAGAR, India-controlled Kashmir, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference of India-controlled Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on Saturday demanded Indian authorities to disarm Village Defense Committees (VDCs) in the region.

Mirwaiz, who has been currently touring the Jammu province of the region since Friday, urged upon the local government to dissolve the force and ensure their disarming for they were a cause of fear and insecurity among the Muslim population.

"Creation of VDCs amounts to using one community against another. People complained to us that the VDC members go to any extent in the name of fighting militancy. We ask the government to take a serious note of the sufferings of the people and respond by dissolving VDCs," said Mirwaiz while addressing a gathering in this hilly district of Kishtwar.

Indian army and paramilitary troopers fighting militancy in the region raised a force known as VDCs in mid-1990s to curb the militant influence and their free movement in the hilly regions. The aim was to get vital information about the presence militants and counter their attacks.

The VDC members were trained locally and equipped with weapons and wireless sets to counter militant attacks and assist Indian army and paramilitary troopers in cornering them.

There has been instances when VDCs were accused of indulging inhuman rights violations.

So far 131 VDC members have been killed by militants, says police.

Mirwaiz's faction is these days engaged in getting all the separatist groups on board in order to enter into a dialogue process with New Delhi.

However, the group failed to rope in the region's hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani in their first meeting.

The faction in the past held several rounds of talks with New Delhi during the tenure of governments headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

In 2004, the group backed off from the dialogue process after couple of rounds accusing New Delhi of resorting to non-seriousness and delaying technique.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/15/content_12458144.htm.