A day after the carnage, a woman grieves in Doda district. (Reuters)

New Delhi, May 2: The Centre has decided to strengthen village defence committees in areas of Kashmir prone to militant attacks following the massacre of Hindus in Doda district.

“We would soon be taking steps to make village defence committees stronger in such areas so that they can defend themselves,” said home secretary V.K. Duggal.

Duggal said he was amazed to see the resilient spirit of people during his visit to Udhampur with home minister Shivraj Patil today. “Despite the provocation, people of the minority community are not thinking of moving away and are being helped by their Muslim neighbours.”

However, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik believes the Centre’s move will only make Hindus more vulnerable and even sow seeds of communal animosity.

“The Centre should think of some creative possibilities to stop the communal division which may set in if steps are not taken,” said Malik. “The government and everybody else who has some concern for the ravaged state should take steps to strengthen confidence among people.”

Malik demanded an inquiry into the massacre by an independent agency like Amnesty International “as whenever civilians are killed, nobody takes the responsibility”.

The JKLF chief, who attended the funeral of the slain villagers last night, took out a peace march in Doda today.

The Centre reiterated that the killings were aimed at hampering the initiatives taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for peace in Kashmir like talks with the Hurriyat Conference and the second roundtable with separatist leaders to be held in Srinagar tomorrow.

But some Kashmir watchers do not agree. “Why would militants kill Hindus to jeopardise talks with the Hurriyat or the second roundtable? They have done such acts throughout the history of militancy in Kashmir,” said Tapan Bose, a Kashmir observer.

Bose believes outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul Mujahideen are stepping up violence in the region because they are not happy with the softening of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s stand on Kashmir and the confidence-building measures between the neighbours.

He also does not see tomorrow’s talks making much headway. “There has been no policy change on Kashmir on our side, while Pakistan has moved from its earlier position of plebiscite to maximum autonomy. It is high time for the government to come up with a proper policy on Kashmir in Parliament. Such non-agenda talks organised by retired policemen and bureaucrats are not going to take us anywhere,” said Bose.