Some Kashmir regions to be taken off Disturbed Areas

JAMMU - The Jammu and Kashmir government Thursday removed 10 more bunkers from summer capital Srinagar and is all set to remove some of the areas in the state from the Disturbed Area category as part of building confidence among the people.

The paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel deployed on duty for these bunkers have been “redeployed”, according to a senior functionary of the government.

He said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has undertaken this exercise as part of the decisions taken during the unified command meeting in Srinagar in September.

The chief minister had earlier ordered the dismantling of 16 bunkers from the summer capital city of Srinagar. With Thursday’s dismantling of 10 more bunkers, a total of 26 bunkers have been disbanded in the summer capital.

“The next step would be to denotify some of the areas, including Srinagar, from the Disturbed Area list,” the official told IANS Thursday evening.

He, however, admitted that the army had reservations over this move. “But the chief minister has taken up this issue with the centre and the matters will get sorted out soon,” the official said.

“We can expect announcement of the denotification of the Disturbed Areas very soon,” the official said.