Planned Army Withdrawal From J-K Shelved ‘Indefinitely’

The officials said the Army’s planned gradual departure from certain regions of the Jammu region has been shelved indefinitely in view of terror attacks being orchestrated from across the border.

They said that the government intended to diminish the footprints of Rashtriya Rifles, a counter-insurgency force of the Army, in the Jammu region and hand over the security to the Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces.

In the Jammu region, the Army maintains three Counter-Insurgent Forces (CIF): Delta Force (which looks after the Doda region), Romeo Force (looking after Rajouri and Poonch areas), and Uniform Force (looking after Udhampur and Banihal areas).

The officials further said, “Certain Army units planned to progressively take over security and law and order control to local police and paramilitary units South of Pir Panjal (Jammu region)”.

However, given the current scenario, particularly the terrorist fatalities this year, officials have chosen to delay the project indefinitely.

Terrorists have killed 17 people in Jammu and Kashmir, including 10 Army men. Five civilians were killed in a terrorist attack on January 1 this year, and two kids were killed when an IED left behind by the terrorists before fleeing, exploded the next day.

On April 20, terrorists attacked a truck carrying five Army men in Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district. During Ramzan, the Army men were on their way to give ‘Iftar’ material to a nearby village.

On May 5, militants detonated an IED in Kandi forest, Rajouri, killing five para commandos and injuring a Major-rank officer.

The plan to withdraw the Army from the hinterland has been discussed for some time and a final recommendation was expected to be made at the Unified Headquarters (UHQ) which is led by Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha. The Army, police, and paramilitary forces are all represented in the UHQ.

Following the repeal of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the law and order and terror-related incidents had decreased, with the number of stone-pelting occurrences dropping to zero.

(With input from PTI)

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