Over the past week, hundreds of troops have been deployed to Jammu and Kashmir. Official sources say that over 300 paramilitary forces, a large number of whom belong to the Central Reserve Police Force, have already arrived. Furthermore, an additional 70 are currently on their way to the Valley.
This has been the largest movement of forces in the region since August 2019, following which the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was rescinded. On the same day, the Indian Parliament also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, which split the state into two union territories, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, effectively giving the central government in New Delhi greater control over the region’s administration. During this period, over 800 troops were deployed to the region.
Hence, this week’s events have resulted in speculation amongst regional leaders and locals, who are concerned that the movement could prospectively be in pre-emption of a move like the August 2019 one. The junior leader of the National Conference, Tanveer Sadiq, said there was “something big” coming up in Kashmir. One of the most prevalent rumours on social media has been the possibility of a statehood been given to the Jammu region and Kashmir being split into further administrative regions. Another rumour making the rounds in Jammu and Kashmir is the possibility of a decision to grant a separate area to the Kashmiri pandits.
However, senior officials have dismissed these rumours. Speaking to the Hindustan Times, a senior police official, Ajay Kumar, said that that there was nothing “unusual” about the movement, as the troops were simply being reinducted after their election duties in West Bengal and other states. “Approximately 300 of Central Armed Police Forces had moved out of our security grid for the recent assembly elections,” he added.
This comes less than a week after a two-day visit of army chief general MM Naravane to Kashmir, when he asked the troops in the region to be vigilant of “Pakistan-abetted terror.” During his visit, he also discussed the need to “prevent local recruitment and facilitate the surrender of local terrorists.”
Tensions between India and Pakistan have been soaring since August 5, 2019, following the Modi-led government’s decision to rescind Article 370 of the Constitution and abrogate the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, both India and Pakistan have been pawning off the onus of improving their bilateral relationship onto the other. In February, speaking about India’s longstanding conflict with Pakistan at a weekly press briefing, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that any resolution of the issue would require Pakistan to abandon its support for terrorism. This came in response to Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement calling for a peaceful resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir conflict.
Furthermore, just last month, while speaking to the Anadolu Agency on Sunday, Pakistani Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan was ready to engage in diplomatic conversations with India and discuss the various differences between the two countries, provided India was “willing to revisit” its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Hence, the current rumours, if true, are likely to raise concerns in Pakistan and result in further deterioration of relations with India.