What are Village Defence Committees in Jammu & Kashmir?

The Village Defence Committees (VDCs) came into existence for “self-defence” and “supplementing efforts of the forces to curb militancy and cross-border infiltration” in 1999. They played a crucial role in fighting the militants. However, the recent incidents of involvement of VDC members in human rights violations including rape, kidnapping, torture and murder, has raised the demand for abolition of VDCs. The VDC members are being exploited by politicians to “terrorise” the villagers for local political interests and to get the votes during elections.

Now the question is: Can the state government afford to ban an organisation which helped it to minimise militancy but has now become a political tool in its own hands?

The Supreme Court of India has declared that the recruitment and arming of tribal people as special police officers (SPOs), as a counter-insurgency measure, is ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’. Residents of Jammu region are arguing that there is no justification in continuing with these armed militias. However, politics and communal divisions have taken over common sense. While Kashmir-based politicians demand immediate abolition of VDCs, political leaders in Jammu have openly demanded their strengthening. Even though, the VDCs had played a crucial role in fighting the militancy, now, it is high time to regulate them or fully abolish them.