As the voices to disband Village Defense Committees (VDC,s) in Kashmir and Chenab Valley go shriller, the Government Friday said that the debate to disarm VDC members is going on and to disband these Committees cannot be ruled.Senior People’s Democratic Party leader and Minister for Education Nayeem Akhtar told Srinagar based news agency CNS that these VDC’s are the creation of National Conference and this party wants PDP to undo all their wrong doings. “Why NC did not disband these VDC’s when they were in power and why they opposed the idea of disbanding this militia that time. What NC is demanding now is their sheer duplicity. This party created SOG, Ikhwani’s and all other non-state terror forces and besides this party transferred the power projects to NHPC. This party (NC) only added to the miseries of people of Jammu and Kashmir and now the leaders of this party wants PDP to undo their wrong doings,” Akhtar said.
Responding to a question, Akhtar said that it is surprising and shocking to see National Conference coming up with statements demanding disbanding of Village Defence Committees. “At least this party should peep into past and see whose creation are these VDC’s. National Conference is responsible for the woes of the people as this party did nothing for the welfare of the people when it was in power. This party unleashed a reign of terror in Kashmir when it encouraged and created Ikhwani’s. It was PDP that checked those Ikhwani’s and even curbed the movement of dreaded Task Force. Why to blame PDP for their (NC’s) wrong actions. This government understands the aspirations of people and will do everything that will be in their interest,” he said.In response to a question, Nayeem Akhtar said that majority of the VDC members have already been disarmed. In Doda district, 400 arms have been taken away from them. There are still some VDC members that are in possession of arms. Government has already started a debate to find out whether to continue with these VDCs or not,” he said. (CNS)