SRINAGAR: India withdrew paramilitary troops on Wednesday from a tense town in occupied Kashmir where they shot dead four protesters to quell anti-India demonstrations in the past three days, the government said.

Baramulla town, near the Line of Control, is the first town in the disputed region where the police will look after law and order.

A policy to gradually move in that direction in Kashmir had already been announced but it was expedited in Baramulla after the demonstrations this week, sparked by the alleged harassment of a Muslim woman by police on Monday.

‘It has been decided to replace paramilitary deployments in Baramulla with J&K Armed Police immediately,’ a government statement said.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram had said last month that New Delhi planned to withdraw some troops from towns across the region after a significant fall in militant violence.—Agencies