After abrogation of Article 370, the centre government is all set to take a few more steps in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.
J&K in the coming days will see unprecedented structural changes in the deployment of security forces including the reduction of Rashtriya Rifles troops as well from various areas and deployment of paramilitary forces, sources confirmed to news agency Kashmir Dot Com.
The final meeting between the ministries of home affairs and defence and other stakeholders is yet to happen but it has been learnt that proposals with changes have been made and shared for initial approvals that were discussed in a recent meeting in the MHA.
Sources said that a phase-wise drawdown plan for the Rashtriya Rifles is on the cards, which will take over six years to complete, as proposed.
But, officials are expecting that the drawdown will happen early and a few phases will be completed by next year. A sizeable number of troops of RR will be downsized in the next few months.
It is not that the Rashtriya Rifles will be completely removed from J&K and a significant number will remain in the future too.
Interestingly, two districts of Kashmir, Ganderbal and Budgam, which are under the control of the Rashtriya Rifles for operations are likely to see the first phase and movement of CRPF will be visible in the next few weeks, sources confirmed.
In a high-level meeting, it was decided that the proposal for drawdown will be swift as per the situation and two districts will be given to the CRPF for counterinsurgency operations.
But, on the other hand, sources said that Rashtriya Rifles wants other forces to take charge of a few nakas, ROPs, etc, first and the district-level drawdown will depend on the situation.
Rashtriya Rifles wants police forces to first take control of highways and deploy troops as per the plan.
An official said “The proposal shared has talked about posts and location-wise drawdown which was explained at the appropriate level. The sense of normalcy may not get conveyed to the general populace in the region if it takes very long as the situation is getting better month-wise.” (KDC)
