India arms Hindu village militias to combat Kashmir freedom fighters

Dhangri, India (AFP):

Brandishing a bolt-action rifle, civil servant Sanjeet Kumar is one of 5,000 people who have joined all-Hindu militia units armed and trained by Indian forces to fight Kashmiris.

India has more than half a million soldiers permanently stationed in the parts of Muslim-majority Kashmir that it has illegally occupied, as the Hindu nationalist government presses a bid to crush a decades-long fight for freedom.

Authorities announced the new militias last year. Kumar claimed that an attack in his village by “rebels” in January prompted him to sign up.

“We were totally terrorised by the attack,” the 32-year-old municipal worker in the electricity department said.

Wearing a saffron-coloured tilak on his forehead to mark himself as a member of the Hindu faithful, Kumar said he was ready and able to defend his home.

“Anyone who turns a traitor to our nation is my target,” he declared.

‘Only one community’

Muslim majority Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since both countries achieved independence 75 years ago. Both sides claim the territory in full. However, the larger part of Kashmir is under Indian military occupation, resented by Kashmir’s Muslim population that has been denied its fundamental right to self determination.

India has treated Kashmiris brutally for demanding the territory’s independence, or merger with Pakistan. The Indian onslaught to crush the fight for freedom has claimed at least a hundred thousand lives, according to independent observers.

The new militia units, known as Village Defence Guards, were unveiled last year in the wake of a string of attacks targeting police officers and some Hindu residents.

The scheme has been broadly popular among the region’s Hindu residents. However, Muslim villagers are concerned these militias will only exacerbate Kashmir’s woes.

“My worry is about the way weapons are now being distributed among only one community,” said one elderly Muslim living in Dhangri, who asked not to be named.

“Now weapons are being brandished around by young ones. This is not good for any one of us,” he shared. “I sense a growing tension.”

‘I will fight back’

Many residents of Dhangri, the remote hamlet where Kumar lives, are still grief-stricken by the attack that claimed the lives of seven of their neighbours, which police as usual blamed on Pakistan-backed fighters without producing evidence.

“With or without the weapons, we’re terrorised,” said farmer Murari Lal Sharma, 55, as he cradled his loaded .303 calibre rifle.

“But now I will fight back.”

One Indian paramilitary officer said the newly armed villagers were on such a constant state of alert that his unit informed them beforehand of their night patrol, so that they were not accidentally mistaken for militants and fired upon.

“The purpose is to create a line of defence, not a line of attack,” Kanchan Gupta of India’s information ministry claimed.

India first created a civil militia force in Kashmir in mid-1990s when the fight for freedom against Indian illegal occupation was at its peak.

About 25,000 men and women, including teenagers and some Muslims, were given weapons and organised into village defence committees in Jammu region.

Rights groups, however, revealed that members of these committees had committed terrible atrocities against civilians, for which there was no accountability.

There were several cases of murder, rape and extortion by the militias. However, less than two percent of the perpetrators were convicted.

Gupta said that these cases were individual acts and there was “no record of organised crime by the militias.”

“There is always a chance that a few may turn rogue,” he said. “It’s not possible to control everyone.”

Most of the committees became dormant as Indian troops crushed the fight for the freedom of Kashmir from Indian occupation.

‘Now there are guns’

This time around, militia members have been warned by trainers from the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that they would be punished for misusing their rifles.

“Alongside training them in firing, maintenance and cleaning of the weapons we also tell them what legal action will be taken for misuse,” CRPF spokesman Shivanandan Singh said.

Three people have nonetheless been killed since the new Village Defence Guards were established, including two who died by suicide using weapons issued to the militias.

The wife of another member was killed in January when her husband’s rifle accidentally discharged.

However, the reservations of some neighbours have not stopped men in the villages around Dhangri from clamouring to get their own arms.

“Now there are guns in houses all around mine,” said Ajay Kumar, a flour miller and ex-serviceman, pointing out to AFP the homes of neighbours who had been given arms.

“Whenever needed, I will take full advantage of my weapon.”