1,400 civilians in Jammu border trained in arms

The arms training started after terror attacks in Rajouri’s Dhangri village on January 1-2. As many as 19 CRPF companies with around 1,900 personnel are still posted in Rajouri and Poonch districts.

At least 1,400 civilians in the border villages of Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu have been trained in the use of firearms in the past three months by the Central Reserve Police Force, officials said. The residents have been armed with at least 115 guns and adequate ammunition, they said.

Within days of the terror attack at Dhangri village, CRPF started training village residents on using weapons. (AP)

The arms training started after terror attacks in Rajouri’s Dhangri village on January 1-2. As many as 19 CRPF companies with around 1,900 personnel are still posted in Rajouri and Poonch districts. The group behind the attacks are still at large.

This is not the first time security agencies are arming civilians in the disturbed region. There were village defence committees in the 1990s that were later disbanded. These were revived last year, now called village defence groups (VDGs), so that residents of villages along the border with Pakistan are able to defend themselves against terror attacks.

Within days of the terror attack at Dhangri village, CRPF started training villagers on using weapons. Jammu police has provided some of them with self-loading rifles, instead of the vintage .303 rifles the earlier VDGs received.

“This is an ongoing process. We have trained over 1,400 village residentswho are part of the VDGs,” a CRPF officer said on condition of anonymity. “The people trained are retired soldiers and police officers. The training was imparted to ensure that they can respond if there is a sudden attack on their villages.”

There has been no reduction of security forces, he clarified. “This is a form of self-defence,” he said.

In Dhangri, terrorists barged inside three houses on January 1 and fired indiscriminately, killing four civilians and injuring another. The following day, a bomb exploded outside another house, killing two children. On January 8, an injured girl succumbed to her injuries, taking the death toll to seven.

Bal Kishan, a local resident and member of the former VDG, had rushed out and fired shots with his .303 rifle during the attack on the new year. He was later felicitated by the lieutenant governor.

“Such training is important,” Kishan said. “I had taken the training from the army and police more than 20 years ago. I need to undergo a refresher course to use the new weapons. Officials have said our batch of training will happen next month.”

Dheeraj Kumar Sharma, village chief of Dhangri, said Jammu police has provided at least 115 rifles. “The weapons were distributed along with enough ammunition,” Sharma said. “The training is regularly held by the CRPF. But what we want is the arrest of the people involved in the attack.”

Many villagers have requested the local administration for fresh arms licences. “Our main demand of fresh arms licences, especially for the people of the minority community, is still pending,” said Rajesh Gupta, president of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Jammu and Kashmir unit, who led the delegation demanding arms licences and training for village residents. “On January 18, the order that prevented district magistrates from issuing new gun licences was revoked, and it was allowed with some checks and balances. But the local administration is yet to act on this.”