Asif Iqbal Naik
Kishtwar
The district magistrate Kishtwar was asked on Friday to withdraw an order issued by his office seeking deposition of licensed weapons with nearest police stations.
Reacting to the news item carried by Kashmir Life on Thursday regarding the order of District Magistrate Kishtwar to deposit the licensed weapons at nearest police station of Kishtwar District, Imam Jamia Masjid Kishtwar Farooq Ahmed Kichloo in his Friday sermon asked people not to handover the licensed weapons to police till the administration and police will not initiate process to equally disarm the Village Defence Committee.
He added that the weapons held by the VDCs equally possess the threat to peace and tranquility in the area.
He said that without securing the lives of the gun license holders, the order passed by the District administration Kishtwar is “unwarranted” and asked for its withdrawal without any further delay.
He said that in case the government, administration and police fail to disarm the existing VDCs in Kishtwar District, there is need to create VDCs for Muslims as well.
Kichloo said that the weapons given to VDCs time and again pose threat to long lasting peace and tranquility in the area.
He condemned the continuous killing of civilians in Kashmir besides use of pellet guns on peaceful protesters.
He said that the message given by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arm the youths of Kashmir with gadgets like laptop is unwarranted and meaning less for the youths who had lost their eyesight due to pellets and called for an end to use of force in Kashmir and asked the government of India to work towards peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute accepted to all the stakeholders.
He also issued warning to District Administration Kishtwar and Police over any arrest in the District and also warned the administration of Doda and Ramban over such arrests.
He said that they are in constant touch with public representatives of Doda and Ramban. “Any action of government in these areas will be an invitation to trouble in District Kishtwar.”
