Glimpses of the Pratham Pooja at the Amarnath shrine in Kashmir's Anantnag district.
In a remarkable display of resilience and commitment to democracy, the residents of villages that had long been deprived of polling due to terrorist threats and separatist-sponsored boycott calls turned out in large numbers to cast ballots in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Arms and ammunition and other incriminating material were recovered from the site of the encounter.
Deepu Kumar (27) was expecting his first child in June but his life was cut short in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, leaving his poor family without its sole breadwinner.
Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hassain Bhat, supported by former colleagues in his hour of grief, at the funeral of his slain son, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police Humayun Bhat.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
'Killed terrorist has been identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad Dar affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday, a day after cancelling the foot-march in Anantnag district after the party alleged security lapse.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of 4,890 pilgrims from the Jammu base camp.
Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar has directed personnel to apprehend those responsible for the attack as soon as possible.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
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.
3 jawans received bullet injuries while two others were injured after getting hit by broken glass panes.
The puja, attended by Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at the premises of the Archaeological Survey of India-protected Martand Sun temple in Anantnag, was in violation of rules and the issue has been raised with the UT administration, ASI officials said on Monday.
The militants had ambushed a BSF convoy at neighbouring Goriwan area at Bijbehara in South Kashmir killing three of its personnel.
Pakistan has warned the international community that any military moves by India shall be 'responded to assuredly and decisively... onus of any escalatory spiral and its consequences shall squarely lie with India.' Implicit in the statement is a veiled threat that even a nuclear threshold may be reached if push comes to shove, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Kumar said one of the slain men, who have been identified from the press ID card as Rayees Bhat, was a journalist before joining the militant ranks in 2021.
According to the officials, fresh batches of pilgrims were not allowed to leave Jammu to embark on their yatra due to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
Late Jammu and Kashmir Police deputy superintendent Humayun Bhat, who died in a 2023 encounter with terrorists, was posthumously awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry for his courageous actions during a 2021 gunfight. Bhat was earlier honored with the Kirti Chakra, the nation's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, for his role in neutralizing a top local commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and a Pakistani terrorist.
Jammu and Kashmir is facing a severe water crisis this year due to a massive rainfall deficit. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed concern about the situation and called for a proactive approach towards water management and conservation. The state has witnessed an 80% deficit in rainfall this year, raising the possibility of drought in the valley this summer. Several water bodies are flowing below the zero level mark, and some springs in south Kashmir have dried up completely. The water level in Jhelum and other major streams is alarmingly low.
The EC notification said the state administration apprehends that "violent attempts" can be made by miscreants to thwart the poll process.
He was arrested and during questioning, he confessed to his involvement in the labourer's killing.
Seven Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawans died and 32 security personnel were injured when the bus in which they were returning from Amarnath Yatra duty fell into a deep gorge in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official said.
Areas falling under the jurisdiction of 11 police stations Srinagar were also placed under curfew.
So far 14 Kashmiri Pandits have filed nominations to contest from the valley for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, aiming to ensure the return and rehabilitation of their fellow community members, whose number run up to 3 lakh.
India and Pakistan haven't played a bilateral series since 2012/13, after that series the bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan have been suspended due to the heightened diplomatic tensions between the two neighbours.
More than a dozen Mountain Rescue Teams assisted thousands of pilgrims during this year's Amarnath pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Monday, as the annual yatra concluded with more than 5.10 lakh pilgrims offering prayers at the cave shrine.
A worker from Punjab who was injured in Wednesday's terror attack in Srinagar's Habba Kadal area died at the SKIMS hospital in Srinagar on Thursday morning, taking the toll to two in the first targeted killing of the year by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti was on Monday put under house arrest to prevent her from visiting Anantnag to meet the family of a youth who was killed in cross-firing between security forces and militants last week, a party leader claimed.
Terrorists opened fire at a popular tourist spot near Kashmir's Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
Tahira, 44, sustained injuries during the encounter and was rushed to the district hospital, but she could not be saved.
A terrorist was killed on Wednesday in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district while another ultra was trapped in a cordon in Sopore area of north Kashmir, police said.
Panzoo alias Fayaz Ahmad Thokar alias Hanzulla Bai was a "co-conspirator" of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed by a terrorist who used a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to trigger the deadly blast.
Eight school children were killed and nine others wounded in a road mishap in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Thursday afternoon. A senior police officer said the bus, which was carrying the students back home from school, fell into a deep gorge in the mountainous Shangus area of Anantnag district.
Militants on Wednesday made an abortive bid to target a CRPF camp in Anantnag district, about 52 kms from Srinagar, by hurling a grenade which exploded by the roadside without causing any damage.
On May 18, 2024 night, terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir killing a former sarpanch, Aijaz Sheikh in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag.
The incoming facility on prepaid connections has also been restored, but the outgoing calls are barred.
Authorities ordered closure of schools and other educational institutions as a precautionary measure.
An unidentified terrorist was killed on Tuesday in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag while three alleged "hybrid" militants of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba were arrested during an anti-militancy operation in Srinagar and Budgam districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
