SRINAGAR, Nov 8: The head of the main force battling the insurgency in Indian-held Kashmir said on Saturday it will go ahead with a pullout and replacement by lesser trained police despite appeals against the move by the provincial government.

The Border Security Force (BSF), which has battled the rebellion since its outbreak in 1989, will be moved out of counter-insurgency operations as part of an Indian policy to reorient it as a purely border force.

As BSF troops focus on the volatile de facto border with Pakistan in Kashmir, the drive against rebels in the restive province will be taken over by the Central Reserve Police Force.

The phase-out will start this month in the summer capital Srinagar, the urban hub of the anti-Indian insurgency, before extending around the state, said Vijay Raman, the BSF chief for the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley around Srinagar.

He said the federal police “will do well” and said the BSF would share with it the know-how and intelligence gathering it gathered over the past decade and a half.

The government of Indian Kashmir has appealed against the withdrawal, arguing that the removal of the force most trained to fight Islamic rebels would set back operations at a time of surging violence.

The state’s number two leader, Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, had made his plea to Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who is also home minister with jurisdiction over the BSF.—AFP