BJP demands strengthening of VDC’s while PDP minister advocates disbanding

Amid outrage over killings of three people, including a mother-son duo and a youth leader of National Conference in Rajouri, by members of Village Defence Committees (VDCs) and their alleged role in suppressing Muslims of Jammu region, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally in the PDP-led government, on Friday called for strengthening the group.

BJP State Vice President and MLC Vibodh Gupta told journalists during a news conference in Rajouri that the opposition National Conference (NC) was giving communal colour to the murder of one of its youth leaders in Rajouri.

Mohammad Ishtiyaq was allegedly shot dead by a village defence committee (VDC) member on Saturday after the duo had an argument over distribution of ration.

“Ishtiyaq was murdered due to a personal rift between two families but NC is exploiting on communal lines which is not good,” said Gupta.

He alleged that the killing of a woman and her four-year-old son in Samote Budhal village was also a case of personal rivalry.

“NC is highlighting it as a issue of attack of one community on other, which is not a fact,” said Gupta.

Other party leaders termed VDC as an important part of security set- up and demanded the strengthening of the force by providing them salaries and other perks.

Following the killings, a row has erupted over the role of the VDCs and their alleged role in terrorizing the population at gunpoint.

Opposition parties and anti-India politicians have demanding disbanding of the group, they alleged, was acting as a private militia of the ruling parties.

Senior Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani has called for a shutdown in Kashmir on Saturday against the “terror created by the group.

Meanwhile a senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and minister for CAPD and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali on Friday batted for part disbanding of Village Defence Committees (VDCs).

Ali said that the use of gun for killing humans is “highly unfortunate and that people should not use guns against each other and should live in peace.”

“There is need to disband VDCs from all those areas where militancy graph has come to zero level,” Ali said today.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and a senior BJP leader, an ally of PDP, Nirmal Singh ruled out disbanding of the group.