Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that India and Pakistan came closer to resolving the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. He added that he does not expect a return to that situation in his lifetime. Abdullah lauded Singh's efforts on Kashmir, including the setting up of working groups on the issue, and said he practically initiated measures for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The chief minister also praised Singh's contribution to India's economic development.
The closing of the highway resulted in acute shortages of vegetables, mutton, poultry, milk and liquefied petroleum gas in Srinagar.
The Jammu-Doda and Rajouri-Poonch routes were also closed.
Normal life was thrown out of gear in Kashmir on Saturday as most areas of the valley received snowfall, disrupting flight and railway operations and also leading to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, officials said.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for traffic for the third day on Friday due to fresh landslides triggered by heavy rains, leaving over 500 Kashmir-bound passengers stranded.
The 300-km long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway continued to remain closed for traffic for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday due to landslides triggered by heavy rains, leaving over 700 Kashmir-bound trucks and light passenger vehicles stranded.
Ten people were injured in the incident, including six men, three women and one child.
The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and it fell into a 300-foot gorge at the Battery Cheshma area of the district around 1.15 am, they said.
Hundreds of Kashmir-bound stranded vehicles were given green signal on Tuesday afternoon after the roads were cleared for vehicular traffic.
The vehicle was on its way to Ramban town from Banihal when the accident occurred around 9.55 am. The driver lost control over the "overcrowded" vehicle which rolled down the deep gorge at Kela Morh near Maroof, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range, Rafiq-ul-Hassan, said.
Heavy rains lashed wide parts of Jammu and Kashmir over the past couple of days, triggering landslides at many places and raising the level of water bodies.
The accident took place at the Tungi-Morh in the Chowki Chora belt of the district, the officials said, adding that the bus rolled around 150 feet down into the gorge.
Those familiar with intricate Kashmir politics do not rule out further delay in the assembly elections. Primarily, because the BJP having 'invested' so much for so long in Kashmir would try its best to wait a little longer if only to secure the 'gains' it believes to have achieved after its deafening action on August 5, 2019, points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
With adverse weather forecast for the next 24 hours, the road is unlikely to be opened for traffic on Monday.
Since the bypass is connected with the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, an alert was also sounded and checking of vehicles was intensified.
The federal agency started its operation in the morning, with around 100 officers mobilised to swoop down at the 30 locations in multiple cities of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, besides Delhi and Mumbai, the officials said.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's car grazed a truck on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district on Saturday evening, officials said.
According to the official, two Punjab residents were arrested following the recovery of one of the biggest narcotic haul this year from Banihal area along Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
A massive landslide triggered by torrential rains at Somroli in Udhampur, 275 km from Srinagar, blocked the arterial road in the morning, the police said.
NHAI has already initiated process to handle such emergency situation and also taking all possible measures to avoid such incidents in future, an official statement said on Sunday.
The truck loaded with husk was intercepted near Sidhra's Tawi bridge checking point along Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Wednesday morning
Judicial magistrate, first class, Banihal, Manmohan Kumar also directed the superintendent of police, Ramban to monitor the investigation in the case and conclude it within a period of three months.
Matondkar, 48, had resigned from the Congress in September 2019 after a short association of six months, and joined the Shiv Sena in 2020.
The terrorists were intercepted near Tawi Bridge when they were travelling in a truck to Kashmir.
Social activist Amit Koul, who was part of the delegation, said they have invited Gandhi to their Jagti township along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and that he is likely to visit the community on his way to Kashmir.
The money was being transported from Punjab to South Kashmir.
The bus was carrying pilgrims from outside Jammu and Kashmir to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Katra is the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the famous shrine atop Trikuta hills.
Amid incessant rains, Gandhi resumed the march from Ramban Wednesday morning but inclement weather forced its suspension. The march will now resume on Friday as tomorrow is a rest day.
A senior police officer was on Wednesday transferred and attached with police headquarters, a step that followed an outcry over halting of fruit-laden trucks from Kashmir valley to outside markets.
With the bodies of all the missing workers recovered, the two-day rescue operation ended late on Saturday evening.
The 43-day Amarnath Yatra 2022 starts on June 30 and concludes on August 11.
Four weapons and some ammunition and explosives have been recovered from the spot.
A 150-metre long underground tunnel suspected to be used by terrorists for infiltration was detected.
Munir was among those in Pakistan who oversaw the 2019 Pulwama terror attack, according to Tilak Devasher, a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and who retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.
Gandhi, who met a cross section of people from Jammu and Kashmir during his yatra, said J-K has the highest level of unemployment in the country.
A labourer was killed and three rescued after a part of an under-construction tunnel collapsed on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in the union territory's Ramban district, officials said.
Protests against the killing of a Hindu school teacher in Kulgam continued to rock several parts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir on the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
China on Thursday voiced its opposition to India's reported plans to hold the next year's meeting of G-20 leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir remained cut off from rest of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway and the Mughal road remained closed, while air traffic was suspended due to heavy snowfall across the valley.
The JeM terrorists also carried 'armoured piercing steel core ammunition' which can go through Level 3 protection bulletproof vehicles that police and other security forces use, they said. The ammunition was in large quantity and could have posed a grave threat, top police officials said.
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