The Hindu : National : Give us weapons or we will migrate, say Doda survivors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 03, 2006

National

National

Give us weapons or we will migrate, say Doda survivors

Luv Puri

"We do not want to live here with a permanent scare and a feeling of insecurity."

Tharva(Doda): The survivors of the Doda massacre have threatened to migrate from this hilly hamlet if they are not provided with weapons to defend themselves from terrorists.

There are 512 families in the Kulhund and Tharva hamlets of Doda district. They are cut off from the main road by four kilometres.

Rakesh Kumar, who lost his brother in the Sunday terrorist attack, says: "We do not want to live here with a permanent scare and a feeling of insecurity. A police post would not suffice and we need weapons to defend ourselves."

Doda was the first district in Jammu and Kashmir where the concept of village defence committee (VDC) was introduced.

People of remote villages were armed with weapons, mostly .303 rifles, to defend themselves. Interestingly, people of the two terror-struck villages had never picked up their weapons. Locals said earlier it was common to sight terrorists. "We have seen the worst situation in the past as terrorists roamed around freely in the past. I do not know why they targeted us now," says Swaroop Singh.

Women of the villages are say they want to migrate. "We do not want to return to our villages," says a badly injured Galo Devi. She lost her husband Jagdish Lal in the militant attack.

Though the VDC men have been complaining that weapons given to them are of inferior quality, the concept has deterred terrorists from carrying out attacks in the district.

Sunday's attack had the markings of a communal provocation. Locals said people were identified on the basis of religion.

The incidents in the past have left their imprint in a strongly integrated Doda society.

In the rural belt of Doda, Hindu and Muslims villages have been divided and it is rare to find a mixed village.

Even then targeting a community failed to break the historic communal bonds of this small hamlet in the face of a tragedy.

Manzoor Ahmed, along with four people of the nearby Poshda village, was the first to reach the village and take the injured on cot to nearest hospital.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail