As part of the drive to empower the Jammu and Kashmir police and pull out paramilitary forces to the extent possible, Union home secretary G K Pillai today said the state would see a 25 per cent reduction in security forces and more bunkers would go from Srinagar.
However, Gen V K Singh, the Chief of Army Staff, said he was unaware of a reduction plan. It was imperative that no new security vacuum be created and that previous gains and sacrifices of personnel not be jeopardised, he said.
The Army has already been pulled out from the cities in the state. The Border Security Force has been replaced by the Central Reserve Police Force and this, too, will be withdrawn slowly, leaving law and order in the hands of the police, Pillai said at a symposium here on the state.
The Army, while withdrawing, had warned against creating a security vacuum. Today, that warning was repeated by Gen Singh.
“We have not yet felt that we have to cut down our forces. If they want to cut down para-military and police forces, I won’t say anything...when that is done, it will be ensured that extra pressure is not brought on our already-stretched deployments there,” Singh told a press conference on the eve of Army Day.
Maintaining the Army was not aware of any troop reduction plans, the chief said he was sure any step in this direction would be taken in consultation with the Unified Command headquarters in the state. This is headed by the state chief minister.
He was responding to a question on Pillai’s statement and whether the Army felt the situation had improved to an extent that troops’ presence could be reduced.
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Declining to make any direct comments on Pillai’s remarks, Singh said the Army had deployed its troops in the state in line with the requirements on the Line of Control and other areas.
Singh said security forces in the state included the police, paramilitary and the Army and probably only those people considered to be dispensable would be taken out of the state.
When asked if the Army would agree with the demand for withdrawing application of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from some parts of the state, Singh said, “You know the views of the Army in this regard. The issue is already before the Cabinet Committee on Security and I would not like to say anything further.”
The chief said after much effort, the security forces have been able to check infiltration to a large extent.
“According to the data of the Multi Agency Centre, there were 468 infiltration attempts in the state in 2010, of which, only 95 could be successful and 40 terrorists were killed there,” Singh said.
He said Army would not allow the sacrifices made by its troops to go waste and allow terrorists to gain hold in areas previously cleansed by the security forces.
He said in counter-insurgency operations in 2010 in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir had seen the Army lose a total of 15 officers, 13 Junior Commissioned Officers and 159 jawans.