A committee headed by defence secretary Vijay Singh has been submitted the report on the question of presence of army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. Vijay Singh, the then defence secretary, reviewed the ground realities in the state by visiting several place in last four months.

He submitted the report to the government
in the last week of August. On the other hand, the government is still silent on the whole matter regarding the recommendation given by the committee on the question of troop reduction in the state.

According to the report, Vijay Singh submitted the confidential report to the National Security Advisor M K Narayanan. However, some media reports have said that the government panel has recommended to government that the army should make it sure that the common people would not get disturbed in their daily life during the army personnel movements in the state. The army should take care of the common and innocent people particularly during the cordon and search operations in the state.

Earlier, on PDP’s demand of troop reduction in February this year, the Manmohan Singh government had formed a high-level committee on March 30. The committee has reportedly asked the army personnel to either vacate government buildings, schools and private houses and orchards they have occupied by the month of October this year or pay the rental fee for using these government buildings. The rent should be fixed on the present market rate.

However, the report of the committee has nothing on the question of troop reduction. The report has reportedly said that the Unified Command, an apex body comprising Army, police, para-military forces and intelligence officials, to tackle insurgency is the suitable body to decide about the troop reduction in Jammu and Kashmir.

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