Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik and two other leaders of the separatist outfit were detained on Friday as they tried to take out a protest rally from Maisuma locality in Srinagar triggering brief clashes with police.
The transition from the state into two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on Thursday was met with a complete shutdown in the the valley as shops and other business establishments were shut, and public transport were off the roads.
Protests rocked the south Kashmir's Shopian town where the separatists had called for a march on Monday, resulting in injuries to ten persons.
People's Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was on Sunday sworn-in as the 12th chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Politics in Kashmir is "as filthy as Dal lake" and corruption cuts across party lines, according to leaked United States diplomatic cables from India released by Wikileaks.
While confirming that the voice in the slideshow was that of Moosa, senior police officials did not rule out the possibility that the banned IS terror group was trying to create a base in the Valley.
Protests and heavy stone pelting near the martyrs' graveyard in the heart of Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar led to fresh tensions in city, where the separatists had called for a strike to commemorate the martyrs of 1931. It was on this day in 1931 that 21 protestors were gunned down by the soldiers of Dogra Maharaja outside the Srinagar Central Jail, while they were protesting against his autocratic rule.
Two BJP activists were injured in skirmishes with the police as demonstrators burnt tyres and torched effigies of the governor, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the police said.
Ignoring the boycott call by separatist groups and braving cold weather, nearly 70 per cent polling was on Tuesday, in most of the 15 constituencies going to polls in first of the five-phased polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, among some of the parties that will be part of the opposition all-party delegation are Congress, CPI-M, CPI, RJD, NCP, TMC and DMK and Rahul Gandhi is likely to accompany them.
Negotiations between the BJP and the PDP to finalise the Common Minimum Programme have intensified
Many in Kashmir believe he needs to stop talking so much. But they are wrong, says Aditi Phadnis. J&K's governor is intelligent enough to know what to say when.
In a veiled reference to separatists and hardline Hurriyat Conference leaders, Singh also said the security given to people getting funds from Pakistan and its snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence should be reviewed.
Tourism and handicrafts sectors -- the pivots of state's economy--were the worst hit due to disturbances in normal life due to strike calls and curfew over a period of 26 days since the hanging of Guru on February nine in Delhi's Tihar jail.
"We will take part in the talks, which are meant for resolution of the issue," the firebrand leader said.
Bikash Mohapatra presents a kaleidoscope of views from Jammu and Kashmir, where the five-phase polling for its six seats ended last week.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Omar Abdullah has said his government would not curtail the two-month-long annual Amarnath yatra scheduled to begin in June this year.Hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani has sought curtailment of the yatra period for what he called 'the preservation of ecology in the Kashmir Himalayas'.
'The youth have given New Delhi a chance. Now it is up to the policy-makers in Delhi to respect their political choices.'
Several senior separatist leaders have rejected outright their participation in any such meet at the moment.
The announcement comes days after senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead in Srinagar.
Villagers along the Line of Control in Poonch and Rajouri have been asked to shift immediately inside the bunkers in case of shelling from across the border.
Major opposition political parties and separatists groups in J&K on Wednesday slammed the move of the government to create separate townships for Kashmiri pandit migrants.
Geelani also condemned Pakistan government for accepting moderates as representatives of the Kashmiris.
'This uniqueness of Jammu and Kashmir has to be respected by New Delhi. If it is not done, then it puts question-mark on the very basis of the relationship,' Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone tells Pervez Majeed.
Several incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized, the NIA said in a statement. Those whose premises were searched include Falah-e-Aam Trust, Charity Alliance in Delhi, Human Welfare foundation, J-K Yateem Foundation, Salvation Movement and JK Voice of Victims.
A senior police officer said that militants fired at Imtiyaz Ahmad Nadroo, 25, near his house where a telecom tower is installed.
At least 90 militants have entered into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border this year while a few dozens more are waiting for opportunities to cross over, a senior security official said on Thursday.
Facing flak from opposition parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday made a U-turn on the controversial plans for composite townships in the valley for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, saying they are "part and parcel of the Kashmiri fabric of life" and would be settled at their native places and "not as an isolated community".
Hiba got the unwanted tag of being the youngest pellet victim in Kashmir on November 25 when she was hit by pellets inside her house during clashes between protesters and security forces in Shopian district.
Contrary to expectations, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday did not make a direct offer to the separatists for a dialogue, but said the Central government was working to find a unique and acceptable solution to the Jammu and Kashmir problem.
Violence once again erupted in the Kashmir Valley when a group of people began to wave Pakistan and terror group Lashkar-e-Tayiba flags.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on whom BJP is banking heavily, will hit the campaign trail in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday when he addresses a public rally in Kishtwar, 4 days ahead of the first phase of balloting for the Assembly elections in the state.
The government on Thursday said it sincerely wants to have friendly relations with all its neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, but Islamabad will also have to think about its approach.
Against the backdrop of uproar over the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, Jammu and Kashmir government has told the Centre that his activities are under watch and legal action will be taken if anything adverse comes to notice.
Intense clashes had rocked Kashmir Valley in 2016 following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July that year, resulting in the death of over 85 people.
Major Gogoi might well have saved protesters' lives by opting for a human shield to force his way through the mob. But he incalculably damaged the army's reputation, not just in Kashmir, but anywhere that video is seen.
Posters of threat, believed to be circulated by Hizbul Mujhaideen surfaced on Friday in some areas of Pulwama district of Kashmir, asking beauty parlours to shut business and people to stay away from "immoral activities" like drug abuse.
In a break from past, there was no function at the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar after the government dropped July 13 from the list of gazetted holidays last year, officials said.
The Centre does not want to keep the military in Kashmir 'for long' but a decision on removing the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act will be taken only after some time, says Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
