Will watch Kashmir situation before further troop reduction: Home Secretary (IANS Interview)

NEW DELHI - The government will “wait and watch” for the next six months the situation in Jammu and Kashmir before taking any steps on further reduction of troops in the terror-riven state in view of the upsurge in violence and infiltration from across the border, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai has said.

“We had a plan for further reduction of troops from Jammu and Kashmir. But we will wait and watch for the next six months and decide to see if any more forces should be withdrawn depending on the situation,” Pillai told IANS in an interview at his North Block office.

The decision to put a brake on the withdrawal of troops comes in the wake of fresh violence in the state and increase in infiltration attempts from Pakistani Kashmir.

According to official data, over 60 incursion attempts have been foiled in Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning of this year. There have been some 35 gunfights and over 40 other militancy-related incidents in the state in the same period since the beginning of this year, including a suicide attack in Lal Chowk in January, which left a local teenager and a foreigner — both militants — dead.

Last week security forces killed 16 militants in four gunfights in the mountainous district of Rajouri along the Pir Panjal range. The militants were part of a Lashkar-e-Taiba group that had infiltrated from Pakistan, according to security officials.

Last year was considered to be the most peaceful since 1989 when the armed separatist campaign began in the state.

Following the lull, the government reduced nearly 35,000 troops in the state.

“Nearly 10 battalions of paramilitary troopers and two brigades of army have gone out,” Pillai said.

“But till Sep 30 it is unlikely that there will be further reduction. We will want the situation to stabilize. We are seeing high-level infiltration. Between now and September we will review the situation. I don’t think there will be any further reduction till then,” the home secretary said.

He said the overall situation in the state was not so disturbing given the fact that security forces have been able to eliminate militants in the hinterlands before they succeeded in moving into populated areas.

“The overall situation is good” barring the increase in infiltration levels. We have adequate forces to deal with infiltration. We have got a bulk of them (militants) in the hinterlands and not allowed them to go to populated areas,” he said.

The government was also aiming to create a sense of freedom for the people of the state by taking security forces out of schools, colleges and other government buildings, and this process will start from May 1, he said.

“We still have forces in schools. We want to get them out so that children go to schools. From May 1 we will remove them.”

This, he said, would give Kashmiris a freedom to “feel like the rest of India”.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)