India should reduce military in IHK: ICG

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India should reduce military in IHK: ICG

* Reducing military presence, reviving economy will help build people’s confidence
* ICG presses Pakistan to rein in ‘militants’

SRINAGAR: India should reduce its massive military presence in Held Kashmir, boost its economy and give more power to elected officials to improve the lives of people in the troubled Himalayan region, an international security think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday.

Both nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have pursued their own agendas in Kashmir while suppressing the demand for greater autonomy, the International Crisis Group said in a report titled, “Steps Towards Peace: Putting Kashmiris First”.

Building confidence: “Replacing military-led counterinsurgency with accountable policing and reviving an economy devastated by violence and conflict, would instil greater confidence among Kashmiris,” the report released said.

“It is in New Delhi’s interest to be regarded as a sincere partner committed to improving Kashmiri lives, not as an occupying force,” it said.

India has an estimated 700,000 soldiers in Kashmir, fighting nearly a dozen militant groups since 1989. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over divided Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Both nations claim Kashmir in its entirety.

More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the 1989 uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.

The Brussels-based organisation urged New Delhi and Islamabad to devolve authority to Kashmir’s elected representatives and take “other vital steps to win over its alienated public”.

The region “remains heavily militarised and draconian laws that encourage human rights abuses by security forces remain, fuelling public resentment that the militants could once again exploit,” the report said.

Human rights workers have complained for years that innocent people have disappeared, been killed by government forces in staged gun battles and suspected rebels arrested and never heard from again.

Reining in: International Crisis Group also pressed Pakistan to rein in militants launching attacks on Indian forces.

“Another Mumbai-like attack would have a devastating impact on bilateral relations and could conceivably bring the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war,” it said. ap

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