India to phase out army presence in Kashmir

India is to phase out the controversial presence of large numbers of its troops in towns across the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, the country’s home minister announced yesterday.
Such a move would be the first time the armed forces have been pulled out of urban areas in the disputed region since an insurgency against Indian rule broke out in 1989.
The announcement also comes amid sustained protests over last month’s suspected rape and murder of two local Muslim women, allegedly by members of the Indian security forces.
Home Minister P Chidambaran told a news conference in Srinagar, where he has been conducting an urgent review of security, that the army should carry out counter-insurgency operations “far away from towns and cities.”
“In the inhabited areas we believe maintaining law and order is the primary responsibility of the state police,” he said.
India has not officially disclosed how many troops and paramilitaries it has in its part of Kashmir, but they are thought to number up to 500,000.
Chidambaran did not give a timetable for the redeployment of troops, or the numbers involved, but said: “It will take some time. That is the direction in which we have agreed to move and we will move.”
He said the decision was made because militant violence inside Kashmir had dropped, but infiltrations along the Line of Control — which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan — were continuing.
“Many infiltrators are neutralised at the borders but there are other infiltrators who successfully infiltrate. They are not coming here as tourists, they are coming here to foment trouble,” he said.
The anti-India insurgency in the region has left more than 47,000 people dead by official count since it started in 1989. New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of arming and funding the rebels.
Islamabad denies the charge, but the level of violence has dropped since the two nuclear-armed nations started a peace process in 2004 to resolve all their pending disputes, including Kashmir.
The presence of Indian troops in Kashmir, especially in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, has long been a major source of tension in the region.
For the past two decades, troops have regularly been accused of human rights violations including rape, murder and torture.
The latest protests in the valley have been in response to the deaths of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law, whose bodies were found in a stream on May 30.
Indian officials initially insisted they had drowned, but the families of the victims have accused the security forces of abducting, raping and killing them. On Sunday, police said forensic tests showed they had indeed been raped.
“If anyone is found guilty, he or she will be punished. The action will be taken based on information available to the state and the central governments,” Chidambaran said.
He also said Kashmiri politicians, including state chief Omar Abdullah, had demanded the repeal of laws that give troops sweeping powers to conduct raids, destroy suspected militant hideouts, and even shoot dead suspects.
“I promise to look at the matter. I would have do discuss the matter with the defence minister and the prime minister,” Chidambaran said.
Leading Kashmiri separatist Javed Mir welcomed the possibility that troops would be moved out of towns.
“Phasing out the army is a welcome step. It will ease tensions and help in ending human rights violations,” he told AFP. “Their presence is a continuous source of tension.”

Courtesy of The Daily Star