In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a woman was killed, today, when she was hit with a bullet fired by her husband from a rifle belonging to the member of Indian army-backed Village Defence Guards (VDG) in Poonch. The incident took place in Surankote area of the district. A police officer told media men that the information was received through reliable sources that a woman was killed due to bullet wounds while her husband was arrested and the weapon, a rifle of the VDG member, has been seized.

Pertinently, over 5,000 members of the VDGs, majority of them Hindus, have been given rifles and more are queuing up to get arms in various districts of Jammu region in the last few days. There are around 28,000 VDGs in the Jammu region. As the weapons have been issued to the VDG members without any regulations and control mechanism, mishandling and misuse of guns remain a matter of serious concern. There are more than 200 FIRs related to the cases of murder, rape, rioting and drugs registered against the VDG members in various districts.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP