Along LoC, women turn sentinels

BHAWANI LOC (RAJOURI): The hands which once cooked food for infiltrating militants have now taken up AK-47 rifles to fight them. Meet sisters-in-arms Moniya and Sonia, who are among 27 women out to keep rebels at bay at this border hamlet.

The sisters, who study in the government higher secondary school, took the lead by taking up guns to defend their homes located amid the dense coniferous woods, one of the major infiltration areas in Noushera belt of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.

“Holding guns means a strict warning to the militants to stay away from our village, which once served as their eating point. The hands which were once forced to feed them will teach them a lesson now,” says Moniya, a class 11 student. “The boundaries of our hamlet now serve as a Lakshman rekha to the militants, who should not dare to tread them,” says Sonia, who studies in class 11. “Now, infiltration from this side will completely end as we will serve another tier of defence, apart from the Army and the police.”

The duo are among 27 women of the Pahari-speaking community who are members of a village defence committee (VDC). These women are playing their roles, studying, housekeeping and fighting militants, with ease. They are quite comfortable with AK-47s and other heavy-duty weapons. People of this village allege that heavily-armed militants used to enter their houses at gun-point, eat and even harass women.

This VDC is only the fifth women committee operating in Jammu and Kashmir, three are in Hill Kaka and Mandi areas of Poonch district and one in Barshala area of Doda. As many as 79 women in the state are VDC members and have been trained by the Indian Army. Army officials say these women are as competent as men.

“In case of a threat, they can fight it. They will also help us so that we can also take action,” said Maj Gen Rajinder Singh, general officer commanding of Dah mountain division. “There are reports that women terrorists are being trained. These women can help us a lot in checking that.”

These women were trained in handling fire arms, specially those used by terrorists. “The keenness and sharp grasping ability shown by the women is commendable,” he said. “Their sharp-shooting skills has also sparked a hope that if properly groomed, they might win laurels for the nation in shooting events at sports meets.”

In 2003, 23-year-old Khatun Begum became the first woman VDC member in the state to operate an AK rifle. Since then, she has never looked back — be it while caring for her three sons, cooking meals for them or fighting militants, who had killed her husband and even raped her.