Police intensified the crackdown on the terror ecosystem in Kashmir, carrying out raids at more than 300 locations linked to persons affiliated with the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in the valley.
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
Candlelight marches were held at several places in Kashmir to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. The protests were held in Pahalgam, Srinagar, Sopore, Ganderbal, Handwara, Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora, officials said. The protestors said the marches were to express solidarity with the victims of the attack and send a message of unity.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti alleged that she and her mother, party chief Mehbooba Mufti, were placed under house arrest in Kashmir. They were planning to visit families of victims of army firing incidents in Sopore and Kathua. Iltija Mufti criticized the restrictions, stating that comforting victims' families is being criminalized in Kashmir.
In a significant shift, Kashmiris from villages once considered strongholds of militancy have joined the condemnation of the recent massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam, raising slogans against terrorism and expressing solidarity with the victims. This unprecedented display of public sentiment across the valley marks a possible turning point in the region's fight against violence.
The bullet-riddled bodies of the cops were seen lying inside a police van near the Kali Mata temple in Rehembal area of Udhampur around 6.30 am, the officials said.
'Afzal Guru became a victim of Pakistan's conspiracy. He was used as a means, just like all other innocent Kashmiris.'
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
President Droupadi Murmu has approved gallantry awards to 93 armed forces personnel, including two Kirti Chakras and 14 Shaurya Chakras, on the eve of Republic Day. The Kirti Chakras, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, have been awarded to Major Manjit from 22 Rashtriya Rifles and posthumously to Naik Dilwar Khan, 28 Rashtriya Rifles. The president also approved 305 defense decorations to Armed Forces and other personnel.
The local recruitment of terrorists in the Pakistan-sponsored terror groups is also very low as only four locals have joined these groups this year, Army officials told ANI.
Three ultras were killed in the exchange of fire with security forces, the official said, adding the identity and group affiliation of the slain were being ascertained.
In the first such incident in the past two decades, terrorists exchanged fire with security forces in the dense forests of the Zabarwan range in Kashmir on Sunday, November 10, 2024, forcing residents to flee in panic as additional forces were mobilised to strengthen the cordon.
Results for assembly polls in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir were declared on Tuesday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party scoring a hat-trick in Haryana while the National Conference-Congress alliance emerged victorious in J-K. Here's how some big names fared.
Former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig was among the 24 candidates in Baramulla constituency whose deposits were forfeited.
What some of our politicians were up to on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
None of its candidates won. Most of them lost badly.
The results of assembly elections in the Kashmir Valley have culminated in a significant rejection of separatist candidates, including those from Engineer Rashid-led Awami Ittehad Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, who failed to make a meaningful impact in the polls.
The terrorists were later identified as Pervaiz Ahmad Wani of Galoora Handwara and Naeem Ahmad Najar of Shelpora Brad, Sopore, he said.
Reliance on technical intelligence has not been fruitful as terrorists use online activity to mislead authorities. Officials feel that there is an urgent need for heightened surveillance to counter foreign terrorists, especially in the Jammu region.
Two terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore area of north Kashmir, taking the toll to eight in the last four days of counter-insurgency operations.
The terrorist, identified as LeT's Asif Maqbool Bhatt, was killed in a brief encounter in Sopore in the valley's Baramulla district, police said.
Nine-year-old Hurmat Irshad from Sopore has stunned the internet with her extraordinary batting skills.
This has also raised concerns over undetected infiltrations from across the Line of Control and terrorists potentially residing in the outskirts of cities and villages, they said.
Shops, business establishments and schools remained closed due to the strike called jointly by the JKLF, Hurriyat Conference factions led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani; and supported by almost all separatist groups in the Valley.
Militants shot at and killed a shopkeeper in north Kashmir apple rich Sopore town late Friday evening.
The terrorists fired at a check post that was jointly being manned by troops of CRPF's 179th battalion and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, they said. This is the third attack against the paramilitary force in the Kashmir valley within a week.
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.
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
A cop was killed and another injured when militants attacked a police team in the Sopore town of North Kashmir Tuesday evening.
As soon as the operation ended, local residents started pelting stones at the security forces, he said, adding the clashes were going on till reports last came in.
Nine people were injured in a string of terror attacks in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday.
J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has issued directions to the state home department to step up investigations and provide secure environment to all civilians.
Militants early Sunday gunned down a special police officer in north Kashmir's Sopore town, 54 kms from capital Srinagar, in Baramulla district.
Militants on Sunday attacked a police party in a busy market area of Sopore town in North Kashmir's Baramulla district, leaving a civilian dead and a policeman critically injured, the fourth attack on security forces in the state this month.
Will Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who gets his orders from New Delhi, call the shots or allow a democratically elected government to independently govern, questions Ramesh Menon.
Militants struck in Kashmir's Sopore district late Wednesday night, targeting local Member of Legislative Assembly Mohammad Ashraf.
Sopore -- known as the 'apple town' of Kashmir -- is fast gaining notoriety for becoming a safe haven of terrorists, especially of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, as it has seen a sudden spurt in violence during the last six weeks.
Curfew was lifted on Friday from Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town, which witnessed mob violence last week, following an improvement in the situation.