New Delhi, September 10
After a four-month study on troop deployment in militancy hit Jammu and Kashmir, a committee headed by defence secretary Vijay Singh submitted its report to the government but remained silent on the issue of troop reduction in the state.

The report, submitted to national security adviser M K Narayanan, suggested that Army deployment should ensure less inconvenience to the public at large especially during the cordon and search operations in the state, defence ministry sources said.

The high-level panel, which was formed at the instruction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 30 this year, also asked security forces to either vacate government buildings, schools and private houses and orchards by October-end or pay the rent according to the present market rate.

The report approved a proposal by the Jammu and Kashmir government that a revised fare for renting out civilian property to security forces would be prepared and implemented, the sources said.

The report did not discuss troop reduction as it opined that this could be decided only by the Unified Command, an apex body comprising the Army, police, paramilitary forces and intelligence officials, to tackle insurgency, an issue which is bound to spark political controversy in the state as Congress' junior alliance partner, the PDP, had been demanding the same. — PTI