Jammu, September 2
Even as Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had said that the time was not ripe for the withdrawal of the Army from Kashmir valley, an entire Army division, comprising more than 15,000 personnel, is being withdrawn from the insurgency hit border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
Even as Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had said that the time was not ripe for the withdrawal of the Army from Kashmir valley, an entire Army division, comprising more than 15,000 personnel, is being withdrawn from the insurgency hit border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
The Army is withdrawing the 39 Mountain Division from Rajouri and Poonch back to its base in Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. General Officer in Commanding of the Rising Star Corps Lt-Gen GM Nair said: “The division is being shifted and some of its units have already reached its base in Palampur.”
The 39 Mountain Division was shifted to Jammu and Kashmir to carry out counter insurgency and counter infiltration operations in 1994. However, it was later moved back to Palampur. But during the operation ‘Vijay’, it was redeployed in the state and since then the division has been conducting operations in the state.
“The entire division has not been moved completely so far. It will take some time. It takes nearly six months to shift the entire division,” Lt-Gen Nair said.
The movement of the division comes a year after the government moved the Naria (Rajouri)-based 27 Mountain Division out of the state.
The shifting of the 39 Mountain Division, which was looking after the most security sensitive districts of the state, would give an upper hand to the militants in the area. People residing in these areas have already expressed apprehensions of the increased militant activities.
The division had played an active role during the operation ‘Sarp Vinash’ which was launched to eliminate terrorists who had taken shelter on the heights of Kaka hill of Rajouri district in 2003.
“It is operational requirement and the division had to be moved back to its base in Palampur where it would undergo the routine training exercises,” a senior officer of the Rising Star Corps said.
Meanwhile, the GoC of the Corps said a large number of ‘local terrorists’ who had crossed the border to take arms training were willing to return and surrender. However, Pakistan was preventing them from doing so, the GoC said.
He said Pakistan had taken advantage of the ongoing ceasefire and had fortified its positions along the border by building ditch-cum-bunds and new observation towers along the International Border.
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