New Delhi, December 19, 2007 (DefenceIndia News Service)

In the midst of of demands that the troops in Jammu and Kashmir should be reduced, the Army Chief General Deepak Kapoors said on Sunday that though the situation in the State had improved, some more time was needed for large-scale demilitarisation.

“The present situation, starting from 2004 onwards, has improved. However, it did not reach a level where we should go down to carrying out large-scale demilitarisation,” Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor said.
“I still maintain that we need to give it sometime before going ahead with any kind of reduction of forces in Jammu and Kashmir,” he told a television channel.

Asked whether he thought the Army was over-stretched, he said the force’s primary role was to guard the territorial integrity of the nation, but there was very much the secondary responsibility of providing assistance to the civil authorities.

The Army had already trained 85 companies of police forces to fight naxalism and expected the nucleus of them would train others.

PTI