By IANS
New Delhi : The ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir is improving but there are no immediate plans for troop reduction in the state as has been demanded by the state’s political parties, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Friday.
“The situation is improving. You can look at the past and you can see improvement,” he told reporters here on the sidelines of a defence ministry function.
Asked if this meant that a troop reduction could be ordered in the state, Antony replied: “As and when the situation further improves, we will take measures.”
Antony will be paying a daylong visit to Srinagar Saturday, his second to the Kashmir Valley in three months and his third to the state since assuming office last October.
Asked about the frequency of the visits, he said: “As defence minister, I have to visit Kashmir, and frequently.”
During the Saturday visit, Antony will meet senior army and civilian officials to review the ground situation. The Himalayan passes, through which infiltrators sneak into the Valley, would be closing soon due to heavy winter snow.
A committee headed by former defence secretary Shekhar Dutt earlier this year submitted to Antony its report on the feasibility of reducing the troop strength in the state.
The minister has often said he would go by the recommendations of the army and the security forces before taking a decision on the issue.
The army has been insistent that the time is not ripe yet for troop reduction, even as there have been some minor “corrections” in force levels.
During his visit to the state, Antony will inaugurate the silver jubilee celebrations of the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports (JIMWS) at Pahalgam and attend the executive council and general body meetings of the institute.
Set up in October 1983, the JIMWS imparts theoretical and practical training in mountaineering and rock climbing techniques. It also encourages and imparts training in winter sports.
On Thursday, the defence ministry announced that aid for the victims of a devastating ammunition depot fire in Kashmir has been more than doubled to Rs.267 million.
The defence ministry had initially granted Rs.100 million for victims of the Aug 11 blaze at the Khandroo Field Ammunition Depot (FOD), some 65 km from Srinagar, in which 16 people were killed and 40 wounded.
With the hike, the amount requested by the state government has been “fully met”, a defence ministry release Thursday said.