India has agreed to pull its troops out of inhabited areas of Kashmir for the first time in almost 20 years in one of its boldest moves to resolve the issue at the core of its dispute with Pakistan.
It has also agreed to review the hugely unpopular Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which has given the army and paramilitary troops freedom to arrest, kill, torture and destroy homes with impunity since 1990.
P Chidambaram, the Home Minister, announced the moves today on a visit to Kashmir designed in part to ease tensions after the alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women by security forces.
The announcement also coincided with a visit
to Delhi by William Burns (photo), the US Under Secretary of State, to persuade India to pull troops back from Pakistan’s border and restart peace talks over Kashmir.
India has about 500,000 soldiers and paramilitary troops in Kashmir, which is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan and has caused two of the three wars between them since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
Courtesy: Times On line
It has also agreed to review the hugely unpopular Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which has given the army and paramilitary troops freedom to arrest, kill, torture and destroy homes with impunity since 1990.
P Chidambaram, the Home Minister, announced the moves today on a visit to Kashmir designed in part to ease tensions after the alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women by security forces.
The announcement also coincided with a visit
to Delhi by William Burns (photo), the US Under Secretary of State, to persuade India to pull troops back from Pakistan’s border and restart peace talks over Kashmir.India has about 500,000 soldiers and paramilitary troops in Kashmir, which is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan and has caused two of the three wars between them since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
Courtesy: Times On line
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