| Download on 
Srinagar, August 18 (KMS): Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) has said that the expansion of terrorist network of Village Defense Committees in the name of Village Defense Guards (VDGs) brings back the haunting memories of early 1990’s and simultaneously deflates the tall claims of the Modi-led Indian regime about Jammu and Kashmir ‘witnessing peace’.
The party spokesperson, Imran Nabi Dar, said that the regime’s words don’t match its actions. “Not so long ago, New Delhi was saying everything is all right in J&K. The words and actions of the government don’t match.”
He said recently New Delhi declared that pro-freedom activities have almost ebbed in the Jammu region. “Why are the VDGs reactivated again,” he asked. The measure puts a big question mark on the claims of the [Modi] government,” he said.
Arming people without any set mechanism of accountability will lead to anarchy, he said, adding that it will escalate the problem instead of solving or containing it. “Involvement of VDCs or for that matter any independent group or agency in law and order erodes the credibility of the administration and makes governance shoddy and murky. If the situation is bad, then what are the new forms of threats to the security situation, peace and tranquility that are emerging post 2019?” He asked the Modi regime to come clean on all this.
These committees have been involved in gross abuses in IIOJK in the recent past, Imran said adding, “Reportedly J&K Police have filed around 200 cases against erstwhile VDC members. Their role is shadowed by their involvement in rampant human rights abuses and other anti-social activities.”
He said that the move, far from ushering peace in the hilly regions of Jammu, will prove counterproductive.
Meanwhile, National Conference Jammu president, Rattan Lal Gupta said that the situation on ground zero in IIOJK is contrary to the claims of BJP leadership over colossal development and lasting peace.
Addressing a party convention at Bishnah, he castigated the Indian government for remaining busy in rhetoric rather than doing work on ground. He said that people are feeling unsafe under the present regime in the Valley.
