India arms Hindu village militias to combat Kashmir rebels
Brandishing a bolt-action rifle, civil servant Sanjeet Kumar is one of 5,000 Kashmir villagers who have joined all-Hindu militia units armed and trained by Indian forces to fight off rebel attacks.
India has more than half a million soldiers permanently stationed in the parts of Muslim-majority Kashmir it controls, as the Hindu nationalist government presses a bid to crush a decades-long insurgency.
Authorities announced the new militias last year, and a deadly rebel assault in Kumar's frontier village in January prompted him to sign up.
"We were totally terrorised by the attack," the 32-year-old municipal worker in the electricity department told AFP.
Wearing a saffron-coloured tilak on his forehead to mark himself as a member of the Hindu faithful, Kumar said he was ready and able to defend his home.
"Anyone who turns a traitor to our nation is my target," he told AFP.
- 'Only one community' -
Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since both countries achieved independence 75 years ago. Both sides claim the territory in full.
India has fought against rebel groups demanding the territory's independence, or merger with Pakistan, in an insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
The new militia units, known as Village Defence Guards, were unveiled last year in the wake of a string of murders targeting police officers and Hindu residents of Kashmir.
The scheme has been broadly popular among the region's Hindu residents but Muslim villagers are concerned the militia will only exacerbate Kashmir's woes.
"My worry is about the way weapons are now being distributed among only one community," said one elderly Muslim living in Dhangri, who asked not to be named.
"Now weapons are being brandished around by young ones. This is not good for any one of us," he told AFP. "I sense a growing tension."
- 'I will fight back' -
Many residents of Dhangri, the remote hamlet where Kumar lives, are still grief-stricken by the attack that claimed the lives of seven of their neighbours, which police blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
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