Indian authority orders withdrawal of 7,000 troops from Jammu and Kashmir

NDTV
Tue, 24 Dec 2019 18:39 UTC

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The Home Ministry has ordered "immediate" withdrawal of over 7,000 troops.

A total of 72 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been ordered to "revert" to their locations across the country, they said.

The Union Home Ministry has ordered "immediate" withdrawal of over 7,000 paramilitary troops from Kashmir after a security review, officials said on Tuesday.

A total of 72 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been ordered to "revert" to their locations across the country, they said.
One such company has about 100 personnel.

These units drawn from the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and the SSB were sent to the Kashmir Valley after the Centre scrapped Article 370 provisions in Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the order issued on Monday, while 24 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force are being withdrawn, 12 each of the Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal are being sent back.

About 20 such companies were withdrawn from the valley early this month.

Comment:

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On Article 370, from Wikipedia:

Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir — a region located in the northern part of Indian subcontinent which was administered by India as a state from 1954 to 31 October 2019, and a part of the larger region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947^[1][2] — conferring it with the power to have a separate constitution, a state flag and autonomy over the internal administration of the state.^[3][4]

This article, along with Article 35A, defined that the Jammu and Kashmir state's residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to residents of other Indian states.^[8] As a result of this provision, Indian citizens from other states could not purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.^[9]

On 5 August 2019, the Government of India issued a constitutional order superseding the 1954 order, and making all the provisions of the Indian constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir based on the resolution passed in both houses of India's parliament with 2/3 majority.^{[10][11][12][13]} Following the resolutions passed in both houses of the parliament, he issued a further order on 6 August declaring all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative.^[14]

In addition, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed by the parliament, enacting the division the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories to be called Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh.^[15][16][17] The reorganisation took place on 31 October 2019.