Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has stated that there is a need for evolving a general consensus among various political parties at the national level to resolve the Kashmir issue. Mufti said, "Strengthening of democratic institutions and emergence of a strong civil society is a good sign and the country has to respond to the prevailing positive atmosphere in the region'.
Two teenagers were killed and another person injured in an explosion in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Sunday evening.A senior police officer said an explosion took place in the house of one Mohammed Yusuf Lone at Ratsun village. Lone's son Ubaid Yusuf, 15, and another boy identified as Adil Yusuf Teli, 14, were killed on the spot. "One person identified as Mehraj Din Lone, 30, who was injured in the explosion at Ratsun village, was rushed to hospital," the officer said
Three militants, including a self-styled commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, were killed, while an army officer was wounded in a fierce gunfight that lasted about 20 hours in south Kashmir's Bongam Hajan village in Pulwama district.
The state government has alerted the Army, air force and other agencies to meet any eventuality in light of the inclement weather along the twin mountain treks, north Kashmir Baltel and south Kashmir Pahalgam to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath.
"Immediately after the blasts, a group of policemen went outside to locate the place where from the grenades had been fired. Terrorists triggered a pre-planted improvised explosive device they had kept inside a parked scooter when the policemen neared it," the officer said
A major tragedy was averted on Thursday afternoon with the timely detection of a powerful improvised explosive device in Kashmir's tourist hub of Dalgate on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar.
Suspected militants late on Wednesday night shot at and critically wounded a police officer in the Bemina locality of the summer capital Srinagar.
The month-and-a-half annual yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath took off on Wednesday morning as the first batch of pilgrims left for the shrine from the two base camps: north Kashmir Baltal and south Kashmir Pahalgam amid tight security.
A top Hizbul Mujahideen commander was among two militants killed in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmir area of Tral on Monday morning. An army officer is also said to have been wounded in the gunfight.
Six persons, including two women, a police head constable and three other civilians were injured on Friday afternoon in a powerful explosion in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
The annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath will begin on June 29, Sri Amarnath Shrine Board which manages the yatra announced on Thursday.
Union Home minister P Chidambaram chaired a high level security meeting in summer capital Srinagar on Tuesday. The minister, who arrived here on Monday, chaired the meeting of the unified headquarters in Srinagar which was attended by state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, senior officials of the civil, Army, police, paramilitary forces, and various intelligence agencies.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram arrived in Srinagar on Monday afternoon on a two-day visit to Kashmir Valley to review the overall security situation in the state and arrangements made for the annual Amarnath yatra.
A Kashmiri Pandit organisation has placed the number of Pandits killed since 1989 when militancy erupted in Kashmir at 399, contradicting the official figure of 219.
Arrangements for the annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath are being finalised as the yatra is scheduled to start from June 29. The pilgrimage got delayed this year because of heavy snow in the area and along the north and south treks.
The 'pratham pujan' which marks the beginning of the annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath was held on Wednesday at Panjtarni, on the Pahalgam-cave shrine trek.
For the second time in a week, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asserted that he would complete the full six-year term.
Life in Srinagar and other major towns was affected by a shutdown called by the hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani to coincide with the first death anniversary of a student killed by a tear smoke shell hit in old city last year.
Three people were killed and a portion of a major highway was washed away in a cloudburst that struck Baggar village of Doda district in Jammu region late on Wednesday. Pawan Kotwal, divisional commissioner of Jammu, told rediff.com that rescue efforts were going on in the area to recover the victims' bodies and repair the road.He said the cloudburst washed away several shops and vehicles. It has cut off the twin hilly districts of Doda and Kishtwar, said Kotwal.
In a swift action, the army said on Tuesday it had taken 'strict disciplinary action against soldiers who had misbehaved with tourists in the south Kashmir's health resort of Pahalgam on Monday.'