No final call by Centre on removal of Army from Kashmir Valley

Amid recent media reports that phased withdrawal of Army from the hinterland in Kashmir Valley is being considered by the Centre, there has been no final call as the government was still discussing the sensitive issue, sources told DH.

They said that during a high-level security review meeting of the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi, a proposal for relocation of troops, including withdrawal of Army from some areas and their replacement with CRPF, was also discussed but a final call hasn’t been taken.

The meeting was attended by the entire top brass of civil, police and intelligence officials. “No final decision was taken on withdrawal of the army from those pockets which are by and large free from the militancy and replace them with CRPF. It will be discussed with all stakeholders before reaching a conclusion,” sources added.

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Quoting unnamed officials in the security establishment, some newspapers had earlier this week reported that a proposal to withdraw the Army from the Kashmir hinterland has been under discussion and is at an “advanced stage” now with the involvement of the Defence and Home ministries, besides armed forces and the J&K police.

If the plan is implemented, then the Army would only be deployed in forward areas of Kashmir along the Line of Control (LoC), the de-fecto India-Pakistan border.

According to official figures, around 1.3 lakh army personnel are deployed in J&K of which around 80,000 are deployed on the border. About 40,000-45,000 personnel from the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) have the mantle of conducting counter-terror operations in Kashmir’s hinterland.

The RR battalions were formed in the mid 1990s specifically for counter-terrorism and have remained the backbone of counter-insurgency operations since then.

It still remains unclear how the army can be withdrawn from Kashmir before initiating any de-escalatory measures such as selective removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

There remain concerns over the adverse effect of withdrawal of the Army from the hinterland as there have been multiple episodes of targeting killings in the union territory over the past three years in which police personnel, government employees, and minority Hindus have been killed.