NEW DELHI, March 25: Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony said on Sunday that it was his dream to reduce troops in Kashmir but that would be possible only when threat perceptions looked more manageable.
In comments made a day after a second meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kashmir’s senior leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed on possible troop withdrawal, Mr Antony appeared to rule out cut-backs in force levels at the present juncture.
Any troop reduction would depend on threat levels coming down and security objectives and concerns being met, he said. I dream of returning the soldiers back to barracks. But for this, we have to be convinced that threat levels are down. At such an appropriate time, we can consider pulling back troops.
Mr Antony alleged that ‘terrorist camps’ were still being run across the Line of Control but didn’t say by whom.
While infiltration levels from across the LoC had stabilised, terrorists were now exploring sea lanes and routes in Bangladesh and Nepal to sneak into India, he said.
CNN-IBN TV channel, meanwhile reported that the federal government might consider forming a committee to examine the issue of troop cuts in civilian areas, vacation of civilian properties occupied by security forces in the state.
Mr Sayeed’s People’s Democratic Party, a partner in the Congress-led ruling coalition in occupied Jammu and Kashmir has hinted it would pull out of the government if New Delhi did not concede its demand for troops cut in the state.
To begin with, Mr Sayeed wants the armed forces to be brought under civilian administration there.
AFP adds: India says boosting trade and easing travel restrictions within South Asia will be the issues dominating a summit of the region's leaders here early next month.
The objective of the upcoming summit will be to see that the spirit of Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is translated at different layers, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Press Trust of India news agency in an interview.
Visa restrictions have to be removed ... all these issues we will try to resolve at various levels, including at the summit level, he said in the interview, excerpts of which were released on Sunday.
The New Delhi summit, to be held on April 3-4 and attended by heads of government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, will formally welcome Afghanistan as its eighth member.
World powers the United States, the European Union, China and Japan, as well as South Korea will be attending the summit for the first time as observers.
In his interview, Mukherjee said market reforms introduced by South Asian nations had ensured all the Saarc countries have had good GDP growth over the last one-and-a-half decades, despite many problems and political uncertainties.But this is not reflected in the intra-regional trade, he said, noting that the volume of trade among Saarc countries was merely five per cent.
