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| Six months wait for cut in troops | | |
After the top brass of the Army conveyed its emphatic "NO" to the Government's plan of withdrawing more troops from Jammu and Kashmir and of either repealing or amending the Armed Forces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) the Union Home Secretary,G.K.Pillai,too has reiterated what the Government had been told by the defence authorities.Pillai ruled out further reduction of troops from Jammu and Kashmir within next six months.Earlier the central Government announced that for the time being there was no plan to either repeal or amend the AFSPA.In fact the decision to defer withdrawal of troops and repeal of the AFSPA had been linked with the security scenario in the state. During the last three months or so the rate of infiltration from across the LOC and the International Border had increased.During the same period the troops foiled more than 20 infiltration bids.At the same time some small groups of militants are said to have managed to sneak into Jammu and
Kashmir.This was one of the reasons for slight upswing in the level of violence especially the gunfights between the rebels and the security forces at several places including Rajouri district where more than 16 infiltrators had been killed.This very development had forced the Army authorities to convey their reservation on the matter of further withdrawal of troops and repeal of the AFSPA.The centre and the state Government had been,at one stage,in favour of withdrawal of more companies of troops after two brigades had been pulled out of the state over six months ago.The ruling National Conference leadership too had started supporting the demand for the repeal of the AFSPA and further cut in the troops.On a couple of occasions the Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,had discussed the issue with the Prime Minister where he conveyed to Manmohan Singh the need for withdrawal of troops from within the civilian areas so that the clamour over human rights
violations ended in the valley.Those who were supporting the repeal of the AFSPA and the withdrawal of troops were giving an impression that it was only the Army that had been responsible for human rights violations when various human rights organisations have stated that more than 90 per cent allegations of rights violations against the troops were false and fake.But the National Conference and the PDP opted for playing to the galleries by raking up the issue of withdrawal of troops and repeal of the AFSPA.Now Pillai has left no scope for any further discussion on the matter when he said that for another six months troops were not be pulled out of the state.He has also made it clear that after six months it would depend on the security scenario and if the situation continued to be disturbing there would be no cut in the size and strength of the security forces.The plan had to be dropped after Delhi and the Defence and Home Ministries received reports
that agencies across the border had brought large number of militants on the launching pads across the LOC for the pupose of pushing them into Jammu and Kashmir.Hence the Government,after long discussion,decided to postpone cut in troops for six months.As part of the Government's pro-people policy it has been decided to ensure that security forces vacated school,college and hospital buildings from the first of next month so that people could enjoy an atmosphere devoid of tension.It would be better for the separatists,who are staunch supporters of cut in troops and repeal of the AFSPA,to persuade agencies across the LOC to stop sending militants into Jammu and Kashmir.(
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