Planned Army withdrawal from J-K deferred ‘indefinitely’

New Delhi: The planned phased withdrawal of the Army from certain areas of the Jammu region has been shelved "indefinitely" in view of terror attacks being orchestrated from across the border. A media report has claimed it citing defence officials.

Quoting officers, the report said, the government had planned to reduce 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.

The Army has three Counter-Insurgent Forces (CIF) in the Jammu region — 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).

Some units of the Army had planned to gradually hand over the security and law and order management to the local police and paramilitary units in South of Pir Panjal (Jammu region), the officials said.

However, keeping the situation in mind, especially the killings by terrorists this year, it has been decided to shelve the proposal "indefinitely", the report cited officials saying.

The areas in the Jammu region have seen 17 killings by terrorists, including that of 10 Army personnel.

Seven civilians were killed in Dhangri village of Rajouri on January 1 this year. Of them, five civilians were killed in a terrorist firing on January 1 evening while two minors lost their lives when an IED, left behind by the terrorists before fleeing, exploded the next day.

Five Army personnel were killed in cold blood when terrorists attacked their vehicle at Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district on April 20. The Army personnel were on their way to distribute 'Iftar' material to a nearby village during Ramzan.

Five para commandos were killed and a Major-rank officer injured when terrorists set off an IED in Kandi forest, Rajouri on May 5.

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