An Army major was killed and Colonel and five troopers injured in a fierce encounter in the forest area in Beri Rakh forest near Mendhar on the Line of Control (LoC) in frontier Poonch district of Jammu region last night.
Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir urged the Centre to strengthen the ongoing peace process through internal and external dialogue at an all-party meeting held in Srinagar on Monday.
Most names figuring in the investigations of the 2007 bomb blasts in Ajmer, at Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid, and in Malegaon hail from Madhya Pradesh's Malwa region. Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanabhan traces the common thread that could have brought these men together.
After nearly a week, curfew was lifted on Sunday in the entire Kashmir Valley in view of the situation remaining generally peaceful but prohibitory orders have been imposed in Baramulla, Anantnag and Pulwama districts besides some parts of Srinagar, officials said.
Curfew was lifted temporarily in Srinagar for prayers at local mosques as 30 persons, including 23 security personnel, were injured when mobs pelted stones in two incidents in Nowhatta in the downtown city area and Pulwama district of South Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has convened an all-party meeting in Srinagar on Monday to discuss ways to contain the violence that has engulfed the valley, according to an official spokesman. The chief minister will hold a meeting of legislators of the coalition partners on Sunday. The ruling coalition comprises Abdullah's National Conference and the Congress. The decision to hold an all-party meeting is part of the chief minister's initiative to reach out.
Curfew was on Thursday clamped in more areas of Kashmir valley as the Army carried out a flag march in Srinagar to maintain law and order. Sopore town and old parts of Baramulla were placed under curfew as a precautionary measure, official sources said. Curfew was also being enforced strictly in Srinagar, where three persons were killed in alleged firing by security forces on Tuesday. There was no curfew in Baramulla town, Handwara, Shopian, Ganderbal and Budgam.
Army columns were deployed in the entire city, which saw widespread violence in Batmaloo and Maisuma locality resulting in the death of three people on Tuesday.
After days of calm, fresh violence erupted in Srinagar leaving three persons dead following which indefinite curfew was clamped in Srinagar on Tuesday.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar on Monday and restrictions were put in place in other towns to thwart a march called by separatists.To protest the killing of three teenagers allegedly by the police, the hard-line separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has asked people to march to south Kashmir's Anantnag town on Monday.The forces beefed up security arrangements in the old city area of Srinagar.
Police fired warning shots and lobbed teargas shells to disperse stone-pelting protestors during two-hour curfew relaxation in old Anantnag town on Saturday morning even as authorities imposed curfew in two more areas of Trehgam and Kupwara towns after agitation by locals.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah Friday said no amount of economic development and prosperity would suffice unless matched with the political aspirations of people of the state.
Sensing trouble ahead of a proposed march by separatists, authorities on Friday brought the entire Srinagar district under curfew.With overnight protests in the city and an abortive attempt by activists of a woman separatist outfit to take out a march to Pather Masjid in defiance of curfew on Thursday, District Magistrate of Srinagar Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo announced the imposition of curfew in the entire Srinagar district on Friday morning.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama are already under curfew following the death of three youths on Monday in clashes between the Central Reserve Police Force and stone-pelters. Anantnag and Pahalgam towns fall on the Jammu-Pahalgam pilgrimage route. But those taking the North Kashmir Baltal route to reach the cave shrine have to pass through Bijbehara, Awantipore and Pampore towns in the south.
People belonging to different areas of Anantnag assembled at Mattan bus stand on Tuesday morning to protest the killing of five youths in Sopore and Baramulla, police said. Police and paramilitary forces deployed in the town, 65 km from Srinagar, asked them to disperse but when they refused to budge, they fired tear gas shells and batons to disperse them.
The body of Bilal Ahmad Wani, the 23-year old youth killed during clashes with Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday, was buried in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday morning. Angry locals carried the body of the youth to the main chowk, shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Security forces fired warning shots and tear smoke shells and resorted to baton charges to disperse the agitated protestors who were trying to march to the police station.
One person was killed when security forces fired a rubber bullet to quell violence in the curfew-bound north Kashmir town of Sopore on Sunday evening.
Even as curfew restrictions were in place in Sopore, angry mobs defied the restrictions at few places engaging the police and paramilitary in clashes.The mobs pelted the security forces who responded with teargas and baton charges. Authorities have moved in fresh reinforcements to enforce the restrictions in the town and maintain law and order.
Security forces opened fire at a violent mob that attacked and torched a Central Reserve Police Force vehicle in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Friday, killing two persons and injuring three others.The security forces were on their way back from Krankshivan locality in Sopore, where two Lashkar-e-Tayiba militants were killed after a fierce gunfight on Friday evening.When the security forces were returning from the encounter site, the angry mob attacked and torched a vehicle.