| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| India planning to pull out 10,000 IHK troops |
| 2009-07-11 |
| India is considering possibilities to reduce paramilitary forces in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) by 10,000 once the ongoing Hindu Amarnath pilgrimage is completed in early August. Home Ministry sources said they were not against removing paramilitary forces from the IHK and relinquishing control to local police, but claimed the process would take at least two years. They said the proposal was dependent on an intelligence assessment of the situation. No affect: The officials said the proposed troop reduction would not hamper ongoing operations or create any gaps in the counter-insurgency grid, adding alternative plans were in place to account for any contingency. The sources said the unrest in Pakistan was a cause of concern for the government, particularly after the suicide blast in Muzaffarabad. "We have redrawn the counter-insurgency strategy to deal with this phenomenon by undertaking aggressive patrolling along the Line of Control, conducting strikes at militant hideouts in remote areas and denying them any base in the hinterland," they added. On Friday, Home Minister P Chidambaram asked the IHK government to handle the unrest resulting from allegations of soldiers raping and killing Kashmiris "politically" and "swiftly". He said it was difficult to resolve the situation with protestors pelting stones on security officials. He also asked the state government to address mistrust by appointing ministers to visit all sites of unrest. |
| Posted by:Fred |