Surankote (Poonch), Aug 5: Hundreds of people took to streets in this frontier district on Friday against the alleged reign of terror unleashed by some gunmen, believed to be members of Village Defence Committee.
 Eyewitnesses said that residents of Tarallan-Wali Lor village assembled on Poonch-Jammu Road here and staged a sit-in. They blocked the road for over two hours and demanded immediate disbanding of the VDCs in the area.
 Raising anti-government and anti-police slogans the protestors alleged that some gunmen have made their lives miserable. “These gunmen force their entry into the house and threaten and humiliate inmates on one pretext or the other,” a protest alleged.
 The local Sarpanch, Feroz Khan, who was leading the protest, alleged that the gunmen are believed to be VDC members, who are being assisted by some policemen. He said a compliant has been lodged in the police station.
 When contacted, Station House Officer Surankote, Javed Malik, said that some villagers had complained against a Special Police Officer (SPO) posted in the area. “We have summoned the SPO and also asked the villagers to come for identification”, he said adding, “However, the allegations about VDC members are baseless and the matter only pertains to two families who have an old dispute between them.”

Lastupdate on : Fri, 5 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 5 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 6 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST