A top commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit was killed in a fierce gunfight in south Kashmir's Batpora village, 35 kms away from Srinagar, on Saturday evening.A senior police officer said troops of Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force and the state police jointly surrounded a house in Batpora village, after receiving information about the presence of a group of militants inside.
R K Birdi, the Border Security Force (BSF) commanding officer, arrested in connection with the killing of a 17-year-old schoolboy was remanded in 10-day judicial custody on Saturday.
The army on Wednesday apprehended a Lashkar-e-Tayiba activist in the Mendhar area of district Poonch while he was trying to cross over to India. Mukhtiar Ahmed, who originally hails from Surankot area, had crossed over to Pakistan in 2002 and joined LeT there, officials said.
A plan for providing effective healthcare facilities for children, including construction of a 200-bed hospital, is pending before the Medical Education Department in Jammu and Kashmir, where over 1,400 children deaths have been reported since January last year.
The noose around the Border Security Force Commandant R K Birdi tightened with a head constable recording his statement before a magistrate claiming that the officer had forced a jawan to fire on a 16-year-old boy, whose killing had triggered violent protests in the Kashmir valley.
The encounter broke out after terrorists hiding in a house opened indiscriminate fire on a joint search party of police and security forces at Khodwani, 70 km from Srinagar, police said.
Border Security Force has identified one of its personnel involved in the killing of a 16-year-old boy last week that had sparked protests in the Kashmir Valley.
Chairman of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq rejected the report saying 'it is wastage of time'.
Ruling out a return to the pre-1953 position, Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir have favoured setting up a Constitutional Committee to review all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India to the state extended after 1952.
To effectively deal with the law and order situation, the Jammu and Kashmir government announced the carving out of a separate police district in north Kashmir Sopore town.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday sent a detailed report to the Centre on the controversial release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, a day after Bharatiya Janata Party sent a stern message to its alliance partner Peoples Democratic Party.
Unidentified persons looted two automatic rifles from a police post guarding minority community in Padguchi village of south Kashmir Shopian district on Friday afternoon.
Cross-border infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir is on the rise with terrorists making 433 such attempts this year, nearly 90 more than last year.
Accusing the government of engaging in a 'game of quiet diplomacy' with certain groups in Jammu and Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament on Monday claimed it was playing into their hands by withdrawing 30,000 troops from the state. BJP leader S S Ahluwalia said during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha that a 'game of quiet diplomacy is being played with certain groups'. Without naming the separatists, the BJP leader said, "There are secret meetings held with them."
Security forces killed two terrorist 'commanders' of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in a fierce gunbattle in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, the police said on Monday.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai on Saturday visited border areas of Suchetgarh and Abdullian in Jammu region to review situation along the International Border.
Leaders of the pro-dialogue moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference including the conglomerate chairman, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, were placed under house arrest on Thursday by the authorities in Srinagar to thwart the proposed march and sit-in by them on World Human Rights Day.Almost all the senior separatist leaders of the moderate group, including Mirwaiz himself, professor Abdul Gani Bhat, Shabir Shah, Naeem Ahmad Khan were placed under house arrest.
Terrorist outfit Al-Nasireen, which has owned responsibility for the attack on Hurriyat leader Fazal Haq Qureshi, warned pro-dialogue leaders on Wednesday to desist from quiet talks with New Delhi or else face the consequences.
Jammu and Kashmir politicians have welcomed the Union home minister's decision to possibly reduce the number of troops in the state.
The government on Wednesday announced withdrawal of a 'significant' number of battalions of the Central forces from Jammu and Kashmir in a noteworthy confidence- building measure following the initiative for holding 'quiet' dialogue with the separatist groups.
After raising India's heckles by issuing visas in a separate sheet of paper to several residents of Jammu and Kashmir, China issued a visa stamped on passport to former Jammu University vice chancellor Amitabh Mattoo, a domicile of the state, who visited the neighbouring country. Mattoo, who had applied for a visa in the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi to attend an international conference on nuclear disarmament in China in November, had been given a regular stamped visa.
The kidnapping and subsequent killing of the four foreign hostages has attracted fresh attention following the recent release of a book 'The Meadow, Kashmir 1995 -Where the terror began' and the revelations made therein.
The Jammu and Kashmir police has rescued 350 people, who were stranded at the Zojila Pass, which connects Kashmir Valley to the cold desert region of Ladakh, due to heavy snowfall.
Rukhsana Kausar, who shot into limelight by killing a Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, has been appointed as special police officer along with her brother and uncle in the Jammu and Kashmir police, a police officer said on Monday.
Jammu and Kashmir government said Monday that 304 cases of various nature have been registered across the state against personnel of the security forces including those from the local police during the last three years.
Three militants were killed when troops foiled an infiltration bid in the Gurez sector of the Line of Control (LoC) early Saturday morning.
They were protesting against alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra is visiting the frontier Ladakh region, including areas bordering China.
Two policemen were killed in a militant ambush in the Rajouri district of Jammu region late last night, a senior police officer said Thursday.
With over 3,100 vehicles, mostly trucks and tankers, stranded on the 300-km-long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway due to snowfall and landslides, state authorities are trying to clear them before allowing fresh traffic on the arterial road.
The administration of the union territory as directed by the Jammu and Kashmir high court to make public land given under the controversial Roshni land scheme, since scrapped by a court, came out with the list of beneficiaries.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday decided to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the infamous Shopian rape and murder of two young women, after seeking permission from the state high court where the matter is sub judice.
Amid continuing suspense over formation of new government in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor N N Vohra on Friday invited the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the first and second largest parties in the elections, which threw up a highly-fractured verdict with no clear winner.
Security forces have killed three militants in north Kashmir's Bandipore district on Friday, even as the gunfight is still on in the thickly forested area.
Separatists on Thursday hailed Pakistan's statement that an "independent Kashmir" could pave the way for long-lasting peace in South Asia, calling it an acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by Kashmiris and asked New Delhi to follow suit.
The holiday will not affect quake-relief operations.
Police, assisted by security forces, immediately sealed the area and a hunt has been launched to nab the militants involved in the killing, the sources said.
Three militants were killed when the Army foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector of north Kashmir's Kupwara district early on Monday morning. A defence spokesperson told rediff.com that a group of infiltrators had made an attempt to sneak into Indian territory."The infiltrators were spotted and challenged. They opened fire on surrounding troops, triggering a gun battle that is still going on. So far, three militants have been killed," said the defence spokesperson.
The police on Wednesday claimed to have solved the murder of a 19-year-old youth, which led to violent protests and strikes in the Kashmir Valley last week, by arresting two of his gymnasium-mates including the one who had allegedly killed him following a feud over a girl.
