In a bid to enhance preparedness for disaster management among government officials involved in management of the annual Amarnath Yatra starting July 2, National Disaster Management Authority has planed to conduct a three-day mock drill.
Amidst Covid scare, hundreds of pilgrims paid obeisance at the famous Ragnya Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Friday for the annual Kheer Bhawani mela, praying for peace in the union territory and for the pandemic to end.
Looking into the current situation on the China boarder, IOC has stocked up enough winter-grade fuel for the region. With army movements increasing, the demand for this fuel is expected to increase multifold from the 350 metric tonnes last winter.
A government middle school in Shopian's Padarpora was set ablaze by unidentified people and on Sunday. The government high school in Pulwama was razed to the ground in a similar manner.
Fresh snowfall disrupted normal life in Jammu and Kashmir, where an avalanche warning was issued in five districts, higher reaches and tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh and the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand on Monday.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
From a trickle in 1990, when militancy erupted in the valley, the numbers have, however, gradually seen an upward trend.
The police asked Kher to return to Delhi as there were apprehensions of law and order problems.
This assurance was given by home minister Amit Shah to a delegation of sarpanch and panch from Jammu and Kashmir who met him on Tuesday.
A cop also lost his life in the encounter which took place at Najibhat crossing in Kreeri area in the north Kashmir district.
Surface and air links between Kashmir and rest of the country were cut off on Wednesday due to snowfall in the valley as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed for traffic and all flights to Srinagar Airport cancelled.
The annual Amarnath yatra to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas will commence on June 28 and culminate, as per the tradition, on the day of Raskha Bandhan festival on August 22, officials said.
Normal life remained crippled due to curfew and the shutdown call by separatists groups.
The incident occurred ahead of the annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas for which security has been tightened.
More than 8,000 pilgrims on Monday paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine.
The clashes in the Valley erupted after the killing of young Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.
A day after the militant strike in Srinagar left eight soldiers dead, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the entire country is standing united against terrorists and they will not succeed in their designs.
It has met 20 such delegations and members of the public from Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Kathua and Doda districts.
High-speed mobile internet services had been restored in two districts -- Ganderbal in Kashmir region and Udhampur in Jammu region -- in August last year.
Mehbooba asked Pakistan to take concrete confidence building measures towards reviving the peace and reconciliation process in the region to end the miseries of the people.
'The one aspect which no Indian military thinker would wish to see emerge is a LoC type of posture at the LAC.' 'The LoC is manned for 750 km and terrorist infiltration has led to the creation of a virtual fortress along its entire length.' 'Something mirroring this at the LAC is going to be expensive although deployment everywhere is not warranted there.' 'However, given the complete trust deficit, there appear few alternatives,' notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The broadband services were restored on Saturday after working journalists protested against the communication 'gag'.
Kashmir witnessed the season's heaviest snowfall.
Scores of individuals and groups including from many political parties, and Panchayati Raj Institutions members, met the commission.
The sources also said another round of military talks between the two sides on Wednesday to defuse tensions in the area remained inconclusive. The talks lasted nearly seven hours.
The move comes in view of rising cases of the infection, weekly positivity rates and weekly deaths in some districts.
In a statement, the ministry of home affairs said the UT of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh while the rest of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Barring a stone pelting incident at Soibagh area in Budgam district, the situation was peaceful in the areas where the polling was held, the officials said.
He said 100 youths joined terrorism in J-K this year, which is also the lowest in many years.
According to new guidelines imposed by authorities on Sunday, shops have been allowed to open on alternate days.
Rather than contesting the state elections from Ganderbal, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister will be contesting the state elections from Sonwar and Beerwah, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
Reasi district of Jammu region recorded 75.20 per cent voting, the highest in the union territory, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma said, adding that 50.53 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the maiden DDC polls in J-K.
A police spokesperson said two of the four recent cases of target killings in Srinagar and Bandipora have been solved with the elimination of the terrorists involved in these incidents.
36 Union ministers will visit different districts in both the divisions of the Union Territory starting from January 18 to January 24 and the home ministry is coordinating it, the sources said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on a two-day visit later in the day, official sources said.
The district administration has also ordered closure of all colleges and higher secondary schools in Srinagar for Monday.
The MEA spokesperson further said the actions and behaviour of the Chinese side since earlier this year along the LAC have been in "clear violation" of the bilateral agreements and protocols concluded between the two countries to ensure peace and tranquility on the border.
DNA test results have established that the two persons killed as foreign militants and buried in north Kashmir, Ganderbal police district, were actually local civilians.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
'If the situation escalates, then mini-scale firing might happen.'
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