India is to phase out the controversial presence of large numbers of its troops in occupied Kashmir, the country's home minister announced on Friday. 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 occupied 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 occupied Kashmir had dropped, but infiltration's along the Line of Control - which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan - were continuing.
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