JAMMU, April 27: The continued infiltration by foreign mercenaries from across the border and the recent spurt in militant activities notwithstanding, the Centre has decided to pull out about 102 companies of the security forces and the para-military forces from the State, leading to strong protests from the State Government. Highly placed official sources told The Indian Express the decision was taken by the Home Ministry about a fortnight ago in view of the requirement of more security forces in the North East. Besides, it wanted to pull out some companies on ground of ``compulsory training''.However, the decision evoked strong protest from senior State Government officials, who described the move as premature and fraught with serious consequences. Instead, they have demanded deployment of additional security forces, saying their strength has considerably declined in the State during the last one and a half year.They criticised the Centre's move as having come at a time when the proxy war byPakistan has entered a ``dangerous phase'' in view of the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) pushing in highly trained foreign mercenaries, especially, the former soldiers of the Pakistan Army, to indulge in insurgency in the State.In a bid to make the ministry reconsider its decision about the withdrawal of the security forces, Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, has also written a protest letter recently, sources said. They added the State Government will take up the matter with Defence Minister George Fernandes when he chairs the meeting of the Unified Headquarters here on April 30.Significantly, the letter has followed a recent assurance from Union Home Minister L K Advani that the forces will not be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir without the concurrence of the State Government. Addressing a public meeting at Reasi soon after visiting the site of massacre of 26 people at Prankote village, Advani had assured the State Government all possible Central help to contain militancy. The ministrywas yet to review its decision despite an assurance by Advani, a senior official in the State Government said. With the ISI concentrating on pushing in foreign mercenaries and the ex-soldiers of the Pakistan Army from across the border, the number of militant actions in the State may be very low, but, these are going to be serious, he added.In this connection, the official referred to the recent massacre of 26 people belonging to the minority community at Prankote village in Reasi tehsil of Jammu region, as also, the fierce encounter between the security forces and the militants at Ahgam village. Besides, the recovery of ten anti-aircraft guns along with other sophisticated weapons from Lilam Forests in the frontier district of Kupwara Saturday night, speak volumes about the kind of proxy war that Pakistan is going to pursue in the State in the near future, he added. Despite all this, the Centre has withdrawn a sizeable chunk of the security forces and the para-military forces from the State sinceDecember 1996. While the number of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies have been pruned from 103 to 76 in the Jammu region, it has been reduced to 144 companies from 182 in the Kashmir Valley since December 1996, official sources said.Similarly, the strength of security forces and the para military forces deployed for counter insurgency operations in Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur and Doda districts has gone down considerably during the last one and a half year, sources said. They pointed out that though the State Government has recruited about 10,000 policemen during the period, they were yet to be adequately trained to counter the Pak aided insurgency in the State.
