Centre withdraws 12,000 paramilitary force personnel from J&K

<p class="p1">The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) yesterday decided to withdraw around 12,000 troopers of 100 companies of the paramilitary forces with immediate effect. The Home Ministry last year had deployed additional troops in the Jammu and Kashmir before scrapping Articles 370 and 35A, anticipating Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks and separatist violence.</p>
<p class="p1">The government decided to withdraw 100 companies – 40 companies of the CRPF and 20 companies each of the BSF, the SSB, and the CISF. All the companies have been asked to revert to their respective locations.</p>
<p class="p2">The MHA, in its order, said that the government had reviewed the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) which include the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Jammu & Kashmir.</p>
<p class="p1">A copy of the order was sent to the Union Territory government, headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and all the CAPFs based in Jammu and Kashmir government.</p>
<p class="p1">The law and order related incidents in Kashmir Valley have dropped dramatically in the last one year. As per the data, civilian casualties due to stone-pelting incidents and the subsequent clashes with security forces, came down by 87.5 per cent in 2019 (January to July) when compared to the corresponding period in 2018. The killings in stone-pelting incidents in the non-winter nine month period last year came down by 62 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2018.</p>
<p class="p1">As per the data, civilian casualties due to stone-pelting incidents and the subsequent clashes with security forces in 2019, were 94 per cent less than the number in 2016. Similarly, the injured due to stone-pelting incidents were down by 70 per cent in 2019 compared to 2016.</p>
<p class="p1">The Kashmir Valley, in 2016, had witnessed massive Pakistan-sponsored separatist violence after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter by security forces.</p>.