The Hindu : Bulk of troop withdrawal over

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 23, 2002

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Bulk of troop withdrawal over

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 22. Most of the million Indian and Pakistani troops have gone back to their peace stations exactly a year after they were mobilised in an eyeball-to-eyeball posture for 10 months, said senior army officers here.

But several thousand men have stayed back to painstakingly locate and neutralise the tens of thousands of mines planted by both sides to halt the advance of the other side's armour in the event of a war. These left-behind troops, say officers, are likely to stay in their positions till early summer.

At least 70 to 80 per cent of the soldiers have already been withdrawn from the international border, confirm officers. Heavier equipment, including tanks and artillery guns, were the first to be hauled back to peace-time locations.

The three Indian strike corps as well as formations culled from the eastern theatre began moving back soon after ``re-deployment'' was announced. Pakistan had started the process of sending its soldiers on annual leave much earlier. Two of the strike corps — Army Reserve North and Army Reserve South — which had moved from their bases in Mangla/Kharian and Multan areas, ostensibly for exercises soon after September 11, began returning in ``penny packets'' even before New Delhi announced the withdrawal. The declaration hastened the process with the Rawalpindi-based strike corps also joining in the withdrawal. The Indian infantry has also withdrawn by ``reverse leapfrogging''.

However, at least one company, which was guarding positions behind minefields, is now busy clearing mines. The odds are stacked against the soldiers as they go about digging mines. Techniques are primitive, many mines may have moved after remaining underground for several months and markers have vanished because of vegetation. However, the soldiers, usually engineers attached to battalions, are generally the ones who laid them. They have maintained detailed maps with coordinates of the mines.

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