I AND MY WORDS

Kanta Devi, an erstwhile VDC Head in village Choura Kot, district Reasi (courtesy: Daily Excelsio r) The recent outrage and noise following the Dangri massacre of Hindus by terrorists brought to focus a rather interesting feature of the security apparatus in Jammu's hilly region of Rajouri and other such regions in and around the Chenab region. A major question asked in the entire debate was the conspicuous absence of the Village Defense Committees (VDCs) and their inability to fight off terrorists. Of course, people have at best only heard about VDCs, and there is little by way of popular writings till very recently that I have come across on this subject, so I am going to attempt to capture some critical moments of the emergence of VDCs, their role in fighting off militancy, some attempt at explaining their success, and how since 2010 there have been attempts to actually de-arm these groups, one way or the other. Tracing the Origins After the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits ...

Three disparate events have occurred that seem disconnected on the surface but should worry us all. Arshdeep Singh , the left arm bowler representing India in the Asia Cup cricket tournament, was subject to information and psychological warfare of the worst kind. A vilification campaign was run from across the border, positing him as a Khalistani cricketer. Unfortunately, in the current simmering environment, there were quite a few people who walked right into the trap set. What was absolutely appalling was also the fact that popular reference intermediaries like Wikipedia were caught flashing such narratives.  Questions on accountability apart, the narrative setting effort was considerable, with known anti-India baiters inside India also trying to talk the same language as these elements of anarchy, clearly betraying signs of a well orchestrated intelligence operation. There has been a desperate effort for a while across the section to show all Sikhs as enemies of the state, which...

Popular Front of India's Pamphlet Spreading Radicalism (courtesy: ANI ) (Warning - Long Read) News cycles this week are claiming to be horrified about the Popular Front of India (PFI) being caught training people in dealing with weapons and its pamphlet for making India an Islamic nation by 2047. However, those who have followed the organization know very well that there is nothing new about this. I had in the wake of the Delhi Riots of 2020 pointed out the troublesome body that is PFI. The very umbrella of a radical ideology, the disturbing signs about the origanization have been all too clear for the observers. In this long essay, written and published in different parts in 2020 and now compiled for the first time, I present my observations of that time, which have only been further reaffirmed. There is only one solution - ban the organization. Unlike the mistakes made at the time of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the intelligence network is far more equipped and...