Two VDC members killed by terrorists in J&K's Kishtwar

Two members of a village defence committee (VDC) were kidnapped and killed by terrorists in the forest areas of J&K's Kishtwar district on Thursday, officials said. 

The deceased VDC members have been identified as Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar. "Bodies of the slain VDC members have been recovered and a massive search has been launched to trace their assassins," an official source said.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah have condemned the killing in the forest area.

“Such acts of barbaric violence remain a significant impediment in achieving the long-lasting peace in J&K. In this hour of grief, their thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased,” they said.

Meanwhile, former J&K Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta that the killing is a matter of concern.

“The once peaceful areas are now seeing terrorist incidents again. Some political parties had previously attempted to create such an atmosphere. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party won there, some of these parties have started raising such points in their speeches, which is unfortunate,” said the former Deputy Chief Minister.

VDCs were set up by the J&K Police to prepare locals in far-off, remote areas to protect their families from the terrorists.

Initially, the VDC members were given .303 rifles, but these have now been replaced with automatic weapons to better equip the villagers against the terrorists.

In the far-off areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Doda, Kathua, and Udhampur districts, the terrorists regard the VDC members as the eyes and ears of the security forces. For this reason, the VDC members often become the first victims of the terrorists.

There are reports of a group of foreign mercenaries operating in the hilly areas of these districts, and they are held responsible for a number of attacks and ambushes in these districts. It was to counter this strategy of the hit and run of the terrorists that over 4,000 highly trained Para commandos and those trained in mountain warfare have been deployed in the forests of these districts.

The terrorists in the hills of these districts are known to carry out attacks on the sly and the intelligence agencies believe that overground workers (OGWs) of various terror outfits provide logistic support support to these terrorists. After the security forces reviewed and revised their counter-terrorism strategies, the capacity of the hiding terrorists to carry out ambush attacks has largely been compromised, intelligence agencies believe.