In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, panic gripped a village in Rajouri district of Jammu region after a member of Indian Army-backed Village Defence Guards (VDG) resorted to aerial firing after a hue and cry over a fire incident.
An official said that a fire broke out in a house at Draman village and family members raised hue and cry, seeking help from the people. He said that on hearing their cry, a local VDG member fired in air. The firing by the VDG member created fear among the residents.
Pertinently, over 5,000 members of the VDGs, ma-jority of them Hindus, have been given rifles and more are queuing up for arms in Rajouri district in the last few days. There are around 28,000 VDGs in the Jammu region. As the weapons have been issued to the VDG members without any regulations and control mechanism, mishandling and misuse of guns remain a matter of serious concern. There are more than 200 FIRs related to the cases of murder, rape, rioting and drugs registered against the VDG members in various districts.—KMS
