NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will consider scaling back security forces in the disputed Kashmir region, the government said on Saturday, aiming to calm months of protests in which more than 100 people have been killed, most of them in police firing.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the government would also soon announce a team to begin a dialogue with a broad section of Kashmir, including political parties and groups.
The decisions are the latest effort by the government to reach out to Muslim-majority Kashmir, where an air of defiance unseen for years has threatened to undermine India's rule over a region also claimed by its rival and neighbor, Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been accused of not taking seriously enough the largest pro-independence protests in two decades in Kashmir this summer. Saturday's announcement comes after a delegation of Indian lawmakers visited the region this week, and some of them also met separatist leaders.
“We will request the state government to immediately convene a meeting of the (security) Unified Command and to review the deployment of security forces in Kashmir valley, especially Srinagar,” Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the Indian cabinet's committee on security.
He said the state government will look at the options for scaling down the number of bunkers and check points in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, and other towns. Kashmir has been in a siege-like state since June with shops and offices closed and education institutions shut. Roads have remained empty.
Photo: Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram
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