Militant outfits training women in JK

Jammu, Aug 12: Militant outfits in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have started recruiting and training women for providing logistics support to their cadres, posing a new challenge for counter-insurgency forces in Jammu and Kashmir, intelligence sources today said.

However, to tackle this upcoming challenge, Army has started imparting weapons training to the local womenfolk in the border areas of Jammu region, in a step towards setting-up women Village Defence Committees (VDC).

By involving local women in the VDCs, Army believes it will have ''an edge'' on the detrimental move of PoK-based militant groups who are perpetrating unrest in the state.

Despite suspicions, a woman militant aide easily gets a safe passage to operate due to unavailability of sufficient women security officials to make sure of her identity in the bordering areas.

On the issue, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 39 Mountain 'Dah' Division Maj Gen Rajinder Singh said the Army has valid inputs regarding training of women by the militant groups across the LoC.

''They (women militant aides) can transport logistics from one place the other quite easily because the soldiers on duty do not question them in the absence of women police personnel or local volunteers,'' the GOC said.

Moreover, taking advantage of the people's movement, especially the women folk -- living in the areas between the LoC and the border fence -- militant aides also try to dodge the security forces.

''As militants groups on the other side always keep trying to take advantage of our weaknesses, the women VDCs will help provide us an edge on their (militants) activities,'' he elaborated. The women VDCs, Maj Gen Singh said, will certainly help security forces tackle the up coming challenge of women militant infiltrators.

The General Officer, who also witnessed the firing skills of local women trained by the 10 Sikh (Deshmesh) at Jhanger, 3 kms from LoC in Rajouri district, yesterday said they had attained a ''good standard'' at shooting.

Nearly 80 local women, including school going teenagers to the middle-aged housewives, have been trained by the Army in the area for taking on the militants threat.

''Motivating women volunteers for this tough challenge remained the main part of the training, besides practical firing tactics and weapon handling,'' said Major Upendra, the chief firing instructor.

The local women volunteers were trained to handle AK-47, INSAS and 303 rifles, he informed.

The VDCs were set-up in mid-nineties following a rise in massacres of innocent villagers in the remote areas of this terror-ravaged state.

The concept of VDCs emerged after militants started targeting civilians living in inaccessible and scattered villages to spread the wave of terror in the state. Herein, the villagers were trained by local army formations while provided weapons by police to repulse militant attack.

The VDCs have proved their mettle in various anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

They provide tip-offs regarding suspicious movements in their areas, escorting counter-insurgency forces during search operations and engaging ultras in the gun-battle till the regular troops come and take charge.

With the only .303 rifles as their weapon, the VDCs have given a tough fight to the militants, who use automatic rifles and equipment.

Over 100 VDC members have reportedly laid down their lives fighting militancy in the state to date.

UNI