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Troop withdrawal to take up to six weeks: Indian Army

Indian Army officials on Thursday said the task of ferrying over 500,000 soldiers from the international border with Pakistan to their peacetime locations would take up to six weeks.

The army headquarters has approached the government for warrants for special trains and aircraft to transport the troops, they said.

The demobilisation schedule was chalked out after army chief General S Padmanabhan, Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy and navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh chaired meetings to implement Wednesday's government orders to withdraw troops from the international border with Pakistan and redeploy them to their peacetime locations.

Army sources said the withdrawal would start from the border facing Punjab and then subsequently troops from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Jammu sector would be withdrawn.

They said that while the deployment of troops along the international border was completed in a record four weeks, the same priority would not be accorded to the withdrawal.

"During the forward deployment hundreds of trains and aircraft had been earmarked, including civilian planes," one official explained.

ALSO SEE:
Pakistan to 'shortly' withdraw forces from Indian border
Security advisers for withdrawal of troops from international border
Commanders to meet on Thursday to decide withdrawal schedule

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