January 30, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 26,1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 29: India’s decision to pull troops out of residential areas in occupied Kashmir was a move to reinforce soldiers at the Line of Control (LoC), an official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The Border Security Force (BSF) had announced on Sunday it would leave the Kashmir Valley, saying the Indian government had made a policy decision to take the BSF out of operations in the held state.

A senior Border Security Force official said on Wednesday that other forces could take care of internal security in held Kashmir.

“The basic job of the Border Security Force is to man the borders of the country,” Sharma said.

“Since it was felt that there was a shortage of personnel for the same, such a move was considered.”—AFP