India troops vacate Kashmir schools and hospitals

Troops have vacated all hospitals and schools in Indian-administered Kashmir because of the improving security situation there, India says.

Speaking during a visit to the state, Defense Minister AK Antony said that paramilitary police would take over more responsibilities from the army.

He said that from mid-January they would be responsible for security on the key Jammu-Srinagar highway.

In December Mr Anthony said that 30,000 troops had been withdrawn from Kashmir.

Commandeered

"This has been done to reduce the visibility of the army, without in anyway diluting out counter-militant grid," Mr Antony said while reviewing security in the region on Wednesday.

"The process of winning hearts and minds of people is never an easy one."

A 20-year insurgency against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir has claimed more than 47,000 lives since 1990.

During that time the army has often commandeered hospital and school buildings for counter-insurgency duties.

Mr Antony said that hard work by the security forces and local people had reduced the level of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, but warned that militant attempts at infiltration from Pakistan had increased.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that Wednesday's announcement is bound to be welcomed, even though troops still continue to occupy private land, some of it farmland.

Last year the state government disclosed that troops were occupying more than 50,000 hectares of land, our correspondent says.

Violence has decreased considerably in the Kashmir valley since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004.

But talks were suspended after the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks in which 174 people were killed, including nine gunmen.

Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for more than 50 years and the scene of two of their three wars.

India sent its troops into Kashmir's towns and villages 20 years ago to deal with a worsening insurgency, but correspondents say that their presence there remains deeply unpopular.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8457345.stm.