Ruling out the presence of Al-Qaeda in Jammu and Kashmir, the army on Sunday said that nothing had been established so far to corroborate reports about the terror group’s operatives in the state.
“Much has been said by the print and electronic media about Al Qaeda’s presence in Jammu and Kashmir, but nothing has been established so far to corroborate these reports”, Northern Command chief, Lt Gen H S Panag, told reporters after laying wreaths at Dhruv War Memorial on the occasion of the unit’s 36th Raising Day.
Gen Panag, looking after the operational command in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir regions, said: “I would say we also have no records about Al Qaeda operatives having being found during counter-insurgency operations in the state, in the past. Only one odd case was reported about one Al Qaeda militant of Afghanistan long back”.  He added that after investigation, it also turned to be untrue.
“I think security forces, the CID and IB are investigating into it. We shall wait for what they have to say,” said Panag, who took over as the Northern Command’s GOC-in-C in January.
He also ruled out Al Qaeda’s relations with militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir — Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
“We are only aware of Al Qaeda’s strong relations with JeM and LeT in Pakistan,” he maintained.
He explained that  Al Qaeda had strong relations with LeT and JeM in Pakistan, whose cadres they trained and assisted in operations against the government. They worked in coordination in Pakistan, which was a major threat to the establishment. He said that such a situation was unlikely in India, due to the stable government.
 Ruling out demilitarisation in Jammu and Kashmir at the present  juncture, Panag said that the army was not the appropriate authority to decide on withdrawal or redeployment of troops in the state.
Contradicting media reports, he said the army did not have any individual interests in staying in the state.
“Instead, jawans would be happy to go back and stay with their families,” he claimed.“But when the situation improves, the army’s strength would automatically be decreased.”
He said, of the total 3.37 lakh troops in the state, only 25 per cent were being used for counter insurgency operations in in-depth areas.
“To deal with counter insurgency and counter infiltration operations along the Line of Control, 45 to 50 per cent troops are being deployed,” he said.