NEW DELHI: The Government has "redeployed" about 5,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir to West Bengal following an "improvement" in the situation, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

Describing the redeployment as a routine exercise, Mr. Mukherjee said it was done keeping in view the decrease in the level of violence. He denied that it was linked to the coming visit of U.S. President George Bush.

The troops had been sent from the eastern sector over five years ago for anti-terrorist and border surveillance operations.

"Sometimes, we do it [a review]. It is a regular exercise and this [redeployment] was done last year too. It is due to a decrease in the level of violence and not because of visits by important visitors. The decrease in violence helped us take the decision," Mr. Mukherjee said after inaugurating a seminar organised by the Territorial Army here.

The troops were moved from the area between the Line of Control and the Pir Panjal range on the Jammu-Poonch axis, an area targeted for infiltration, to their pre-Kargil conflict locations in Darjeeling and Siliguri.

Last year, some parts of a brigade were relocated to their original base in Ladakh.

Constant review

Chief of the Army Staff J.J. Singh said the force levels were under constant review and if the situation improved further, more troops could be moved out of Jammu and Kashmir. However, there was no definite plan on these lines. The situation was "well under control," thanks to a lower violence level and erosion of the terrorist leadership.

"We have upper hand"

"The people of Jammu and Kashmir must understand that we have the upper hand," Gen. Singh said attributing the better attrition rate (the death ratio of soldiers and terrorists) to improved intelligence on the movements of terrorists from the locals and focussed operations. "So we felt comfortable in de-inducting a brigade to the east. Also this will restore the balance in the northeast."

Despite the departure of the troops, the Army had the capacity to perform its tasks in Kashmir, said Gen. Singh.

Barely a fortnight ago the Army Chief said: "As long as terrorism continues and the level of violence does not come down to negligible levels, I don't see the possibility of [the Army] leaving the area for the terrorists to dominate and exploit."

He also said infiltration was continuing in "other ways."

B. Muralidhar Reddy reports from Islamabad:

Pakistan said it would welcome the proposed withdrawal of Indian troops from Jammu and Kashmir if it were part of a "significant reduction."

However, Islamabad had no independent "confirmation" of the reports, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told a weekly news briefing.

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