No disbanding of Village Defence Committees: J-K govt

Asserting that there is no misuse of guns possessed by Village Defence Committees (VDCs), Jammu and Kashmir government today ruled out any disbanding of VDCs in the state.
"No, it is a policy decision...As of now there is no such plan (disbanding of VDCs in J-K)...It is to be reviewed later," Principal Secretary (Home), Suresh Kumar told reporters here while responding to a question on whether the state government was contemplating on disbanding the VDCs and withdraw weapons from them, after such demands were raised by some quarters in the state.
"Let us not get carried away by one odd incident...You cannot change policy decision like this...There is no such plan," he said.

Ruling out any misuse of weapons possessed by VDCs Kumar said "no weapons are being misused...There is only a suspicion about use of one such weapon in the Atholi (Paddar) incident."
Replying to a question on unaccounted weapons with people in Kishtwar district which were used during the recent violence, he said, "there are no unaccounted weapons...People have licensed guns...You cannot posses weapons without a license."
As investigation proceeds, if any unlicensed weapon is found, it would be confiscated and license will be cancelled, he said.