FORCE REDUCTION

WITH MILITANCY BEATEN BACK IN KASHMIR AND THE GROUND SITUATION INCHING TOWARDS NORMALITY, THERE ARE EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE DEPLOYMENT OF THE COUNTER-INSURGENCY FORCE RASHTRIYA RIFLES. BUT EXPERTS WARN AGAINST A DRASTIC DRAWDOWN

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

HE HOPEFUL ASSESSMENT HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY PRONOUNCED by the Centre and the security forces: normality is finally returning to the Kashmir valley. Terror-related incidents are down, their perpetrators neutralised at an increasing pace and Over Ground Networks (OGWs) dismantled. Proof is near at hand too: 33 years after raging unrest forced it to withdraw in 1989, the Indian Navy has resumed its training centre for NCC cadets at central Kashmir’s picturesque Manasbal Lake, with two boats moored on the lakefront. Add to that the much noted opening of a multiplex in the valley, signifying the return of cinema after three decades. Business prospects have been looking up and there has been a surge of tourists this summer. Much of the improved security situation in the valley is being attributed to the efficiency of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), the counter-insurgency force that serves in Jammu and Kashmir. Now, military planners are focusing on changing the deployment pattern of security forces in the valley. With the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) closely monitoring the security situation in Kashmir valley after the revocation of Article 370 in August 2019 and having a high stake in ushering in peace and stability, efforts are on to scale down the presence of the RR in Kashmir. A valley bristling with men in combat uniforms, guns at the ready, doesn’t reflect the gradual return to paradisical tranquility, the Centre believes.

There is another reason to pare down the RR—with India assuming presidency of the G20 from December, the Centre is keen to hold its meetings in Jammu and Kashmir, and discussions to minimise the presence of men in uniform have gathered pace in closed-door meetings.