After abrogation of Article 370 from J&K, now Union Govt considers phased withdrawal of Army from the Valley

New Delhi: Three and a half years after the Union government removed the special status provided to Jammu and Kashmir amid the deployment of large additional troops, now a proposal to completely withdraw the Indian Army from the Valley hinterland is being discussed.

Once the proposal is approved, the Army will be present only on the Line of Control (LoC).

According to the Officials, the proposal to withdraw the Army from the Kashmir hinterland is under discussion for about two years and is currently at the “advanced stage”.

The discussion is being made with the involvement of the Union Ministry of Defence, Union Ministry of Home Affairs, armed forces, and the J&K police.

According to the Officials, a total of 1.3 lakh army personnel are present all over J&K out of which 80,000 are present on the border. Around 40,000-45,000, Rashtriya Rifles personnel have the mantle of conducting counter-terror operations in Kashmir’s hinterland.

The government has claimed that the terrorist violence incidents and killings of security personnel in J&K have reduced by almost 50 per cent since August 5, 2019, when compared with the same period before it.

Also after the August 5, 2019 decisions, stone pelting incidents have almost vanished.

Several political parties in J&K as well as some groups have been demanding a complete withdrawal of the Army in the valley.

Officials said that one proposal that is being discussed is to remove the Indian Army’s Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in three phases and replace them with CRPF.