Commander of the eastern command of the Indian Army – Lt General Rana Pratap Kalita has attributed improvement in internal security in Assam to pulling out of Army troops from counterinsurgency roles.

Briefing the media at Guwahati in Assam, Lt General RP Kalita said that improvement in internal security in Assam has enabled the Army to “now address the real external threat”.

“There has been a vast improvement in internal security in Assam, which has enabled us to deinduct some of our troops from counterinsurgency to where there are external threats,” said Lt General RP Kalita.

He added: “I can’t give you the numbers but yes I can say that there has be sizeable deinduction of troops from counterinsurgency.”

Also read: Assam-based division of Indian Army pulled out of counter-insurgency role, to look after China border in Northeast now: Report

The Indian army commander was responding to reports of an Assam-based division of Indian Army, under the Gajraj Corps, being pulled out of counterinsurgency roles and mandated to look after the China border in Northeast.

There is now no Indian Army unit involved in counter-insurgency operations in Assam.

Moreover, the 17 Mountain Strike Corps, which earlier had tasks in the Ladakh sector, has also now been confined to the Northeast only.

According to reports, the Indian Army has shifted as many as six divisions to the border with China – from Ladakh sector to Northeast.

Zaheer Akram Bora is a senior copy editor with Northeast Now with over 10 years of experience in the field of journalism. He can be reached at [email protected]