India revives network of village guards in Kashmir after militant attack


FILE PHOTO: An Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer patrols on an empty street during a lockdown on the first anniversary of the revocation of Kashmir's autonomy, in Srinagar August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File Photo

SRINAGAR (Reuters) - India is reviving a network of thousands of village guards in Jammu and Kashmir, including arming some with automatic rifles, after a militant attack in the disputed region killed seven civilians earlier in January, a police official said.

New Delhi has battled a decades-long armed insurgency in Kashmir, accusing arch rival Pakistan of stoking violence in the territory - an allegation that Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed neighbours claim the Himalayan region - that includes the Muslim majority Kashmir valley and Hindu-dominated Jammu - in full but control only parts of it.

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