The Central Government is discussing a proposal for the phased withdrawal of the Army from some pockets of Jammu Kashmir and replacing them with CRPF. Army will initially be withdrawn from five districts if approved, Daily Excelsior reported.
As per the report, the Security situation in Jammu Kashmir during the upcoming summer came up for a high-level review at a meeting in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) attended by the entire top brass of MHA and civil, police, and Intelligence officials from Jammu Kashmir.
“Besides security review in the hinterland and situation prevailing along Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), a proposal for relocation of troops including withdrawal of Army from some areas and their replacement with CRPF was also discussed but a final call hasn’t been taken,” official sources told the Excelsior.
A proposal has been mooted for phased withdrawal of Army from some pockets of Jammu and Kashmir divisions and replace them with CRPF in view of normalcy prevailing in some of the districts which are by and large free from the militancy though the militants continue to make attempts to revive the terror activities there unsuccessfully.
Making it clear that no final decision has been taken so far on withdrawal of troops, sources said it will be discussed with all stakeholders before reaching at a conclusion. They added that if approved five districts in Jammu and three districts in Kashmir could be taken up for phased withdrawal of replacement of troops with CRPF.
“Intensifying anti-militancy operations in Kashmir during summer also came up for high-level discussion in the meeting,” sources said, adding the operations are on and will be further stepped-up shortly as winter season is close to over.
Top officials of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Intelligence agencies and civil administration have detailed feedback of the prevailing situation in the region to the Home Ministry officials. There was general view that militancy has been contained to a large extent and number of the militants, both locals and foreigners, is at all time low and police is now targeting Over Ground Workers (OGWs) network of the militants.
Sources were of the view that if the proposal for phased withdrawal of Army from parts of Jammu and Kashmir gets through, the UT will need additional troops of paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for replacement.