India ready to withdraw some troops from Kashmir

NEW DELHI: India’s home minister said Wednesday the government was prepared to withdraw a ‘significant’ number of troops from the restive Muslim-majority Kashmir region.

The presence of Indian soldiers in Kashmir, especially in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, has long been a major source of tension in the region where Islamic rebels have battled New Delhi’s rule for two decades.

Briefing lawmakers in parliament on the state of domestic security, P. Chidambaram noted that militant violence in the region had dropped in the past few years.

‘I would take what appears to be a risky step of withdrawing a significant number of battalions of security forces in Kashmir,’ the minister told members of parliament, according to the Press Trust of India.

‘We are now transferring more and more law and order duties to the Kashmir police,’ the news agency quoted Chidambaram as saying.

Chidambaram, however, did not state how many troops would be withdrawn or give a timetable for their pullout.

In June, he made a similar pledge, announcing that India was ready to phase out the presence of a large number of its troops across Kashmir, but gave no time frame.

Indian troops have regularly been accused of human rights violations including rape, murder and torture in the region.

Earlier this year, Kashmir witnessed violent protests in response to the alleged rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law, whose bodies were found in a stream on May 30.

If the withdrawal plans are implemented, it would mark the first time Indian armed forces have been pulled out from the region since the insurgency erupted.

The anti-India revolt has left more than 47,000 people dead by official count since it started.

India has long accused Pakistan of arming and funding the rebels. Islamabad denies the charge.— AFP.......LINK