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| Shekhar Dutt committee to recommend withdrawal of troops | | |
Jammu,July 11
A committee, headed by the Defence Secretary, Shekhar Dutt, is said to be in favour of withdrawal of troops from school, colleges and hospital premises and from the orchards in the Kashmir valley where they had been camping for the last over 12 years. The reallocation of troops from these areas was one of the demands being pursued vigorously by the PDP leadership during the last one year. Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has constituted several committees to examine the demands of the PDP and the Shekhar Dutt committee has been set up to review the situation in the context of the PDP demand for withdrawal of troops from within the civilian areas of the state.
Official sources said that though the Shekhar Dutt headed committee is yet to submit his report to the Government he is believed to have also recommended the need for the troops to undergo “behavioural changes.” In this connection he has not approved of the way the civilians were subjected to inconvenience and public transport services were suspended during the time of the movement of the Army convoys in the towns and in rural areas. The Committee has received reports that people resented unprecedented security arrangements during the Army convoys movement which had been one of the factors responsible for peoples’ anger against the Army.
According to the sources, the Congress led UPA Government has decided to keep Mufti Mohd.Sayeed in good humour so that the present political arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir was not disturbed. In order to keep the PDP Congress ruling coalition in tact the Congress high command has favoured that reallocation of troops with some cosmetic reduction was required to ensure Mufti’s support to the Government.
Inside reports said that Ms Sonia Gandhi, AICC chairperson and Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh, seemingly were not in favour of the state unit of the Congress in forging alliance with the National Conference. Hence Ghulam Nabi Azad’s plan of keeping the congress led Government alive with the support of the National Conference seems to have gone awry for the time being.
When contacted the mood of the PDP leaders was upbeat because several of them said that reduction in troops was not simply a party issue but an issue of national importance. They said even if the centre agreed to carry out reduction in troops in a phased manner the party leadership would feel satisfied.(KIP)
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