Militancy must stop for troop withdrawal

"We will not reduce troop strength in Jammu and Kashmir," Pranab Mukherjee said in Jammu, the Himalayan state's winter capital. "A reduction of troops depends on the security scenario."

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has urged India to reduce troop numbers in the Kashmir towns of Srinagar, Baramulla and Sopore to speed up peace talks between the two nations that began in January 2004.

Each country holds part of Kashmir but claims it in full.

Mukherjee made the comments after visiting the mountainous districts of Doda and Udhampur in the south where 35 Hindus, mostly shepherds, were massacred on May 1 by suspected Muslim militants.

Some 60,000 frontline troops are posted along Indian Kashmir's ceasefire border with Pakistani Kashmir while hundreds of thousands of paramilitary troops and police personnel are deployed in the Muslim-majority region.

Mukherjee warned he would send in more troops if attacks continued in Kashmir, where at least 44,000 people have died since an Islamic separatist revolt began in 1989.

"If the graph of militancy-related violence goes up (then) we may be forced to enhance the numerical presence of troops," he said, accusing Pakistan of reneging on its pledge last year to halt militant activity on its soil.