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| No change in weapons system in J&K | | Pak can't determine Indian troops' future: Centre | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, SEPT. 21: The government of India will not permit Pakistan to determine Indian troops' future size and structure in Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi, though keen on further improvement in relations with Pakistan, will not allow Islamabad to decide on the future presence of Indian troops in J&K.
Bilateralism, a senior functionary of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) explained, would always be highlighted while discussing various outstanding issues with Pakistan. "But this, in no way, allows the other side to dictate its agenda on how many troops we have to station in Jammu and Kashmir", the MoD official made it abundantly clear while responding to a query from EARLY TIMES on Thursday.
India has already cold-shouldered Pakistan's proposals for re-deployment of conventional heavy weapons in the Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir. The Defence Ministry has strongly justifed New Delhi's stand, rejecting another Pakistani proposal of not increasing strength of strike formations of the two Armies on their international border. The MoD official let it be known that it is India's sovereign right to decide where they wish to keep them.
Divided by a Line of Control (LoC), India controls two thirds of Kashmir while the remaining one fourth is administered by Pakistan. The 520-km LoC is essentially a ceasefire line between the two parts of the Himalayan state, which was opened to a fortnightly Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus shuttle in April 2005 after more than four decades.
EARLY TIMES was also told officially that any talk of a drastic reduction in troops in Jammu and Kashmir would have to be linked to the security scenario and building up of lethal weapons in India's neighbourhood. India's stand favouring retention of heavy equipment in the troubled State, according to the Defence Ministry, has to be studied in the context of two developments.
First, of course, the logistic infrastructure of the terrorist training camps inside Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) still remains intact. Second, there has been an increase in cross-border infiltration in recent times. Information available with the Indian Defence Ministry insits that the situation along the J&K border has yet to be pleasingly encouraging.
These and other factors have egged the government of India on to maintain the present level of the troop deployment on the border in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is official: A large number of launching camps have been activated along the Line of Control from Rajouri in Jammu region to Gurez sector in Kashmir Valley. In these camps, militants have ben kept in readiness for infiltration.
It is also official: The deployment of troops for counter terrorist operations is based on the threat perception and the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir. It is constantly reviewed and necessary changes effected to counter the envisaged threat. The Army is tasked with the responsibility to counter all terrorist activites.
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