A high-level meeting in Jammu on Tuesday took stock of the volatile situation in the state and reviewed arrangements for security of the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the Valley's lifeline for supplies.A central team comprising Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh had a detailed meeting with senior state government officers, led by Chief Secretary S S Kapur, and reviewed the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir today.
The ban on SMS services on post-paid mobile phones in Jammu and Kashmir was lifted by the authorities in Srinagar on Wednesday evening.The ban had been imposed by the authorities after separatist groups used the service to publicise their protest calendars.In a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Jammu, a decision was taken to revoke the ban on SMS services in Jammu and Kashmir on all post-paid connections after reviewing the security situation.
The odds are apparently stacked against Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he seeks to prove his majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Monday, but the confidence he exudes suggest that his government might just scrape through.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has reiterated that there was no direction from the Supreme Court about the construction of a road to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath. The statement comes in the wake of a controversy generated by some Jammu-based political parties, which claimed that the SC has issued a direction for the construction of the road before the onset of winter.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao met on Friday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -India and East Asia Summit in Hanoi.
India on Tuesday lodged a "strong protest" with Pakistan over detection of cross-border tunnel along the international border in Samba sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Some 300-400 militants are in launching pads, ready to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir to keep the pot of militancy boiling and boost the sagging moral of the militants here," a source told PTI. The militants are in 18 launching pads mostly in Goi, Kotli, Nikial, Bindi, Samani, Dhallupar, Hijira, Sensakudiala Bhimber and Mamana along the LoC, they said. There are 26 militant training camps, including 21 along LoC and four along the international border, they said.
"The release is temporary," an official statement in Srinagar said, adding, "The release was ordered on the recommendations of the review committee."
India on Tuesday reacted angrily to the resolutions passed by Pakistan's National Assembly and Senate on Jammu and Kashmir, saying they have "no locus standi" on the internal affairs of this country.
In a bid to break the current impasse, teams of the all-party delegation to Kashmir on Monday separately met Hurriyat leaders and gave them a patient hearing but the separatists insisted on withdrawal of Army and asked the Centre to take bold decisions instead of being in a "denial mode".
Tremors were felt in several parts of North India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir, after an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude rocked the Hindukush region in Afghanistan. Mild tremors were also felt in parts of New Delhi.
Three Army troops were killed and five others injured in a blast inside their vehicle at Pattan in Baramulla district of Kashmir on Thursday, official sources said.
Neither the state police nor any other central security agency confirmed the operation for recovery of the arms and explosive material, including three kilograms of RDX, two Chinese grenades, a grenade launcher, two detonators, seven rounds of AK-47, four rounds of Pika Gun, one wireless set and a mobile phone charger. According to highly-placed sources in the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department, the operation was allegedly stage-managed by the CRPF ahead of Gandhi's visit.
With no let up in the ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the International Border in the Jammu region, the state government is formulating a contingency plan to deal with the situation.
A police spokesman said that troops of 2 Para-regiment of the Army and the police surrounded the Batnor Kooligam forest area of the frontier Kupwara district early on Thursday morning. "As the troops were scanning the forest, they came under heavy gunfire from a group of militants, triggering a fierce gunfight. The gunfight ended today afternoon, resulting in the death of the three Jaish militants, whose identities are still being established," the spokesman said.
One more infant died at the G B Pant hospital in Srinagar, leading to protests by grieved family members who blocked the Srinagar-Jammu national highway for an hour.
The Jammu and Kashmir government attached two senior police officials, including the Inspector General (Security) on Thursday, for lax security arrangements for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at an Independence day function, during which a suspended head constable hurled a shoe at him.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the National Investigative Agency had been asked to look into allegations that Hindu militants may have been involved in the Mecca Masjid and Malegoan blasts at a press conference on Friday.
The J-K top cops also said less than 200 militants are currently active in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday demanded that the strength of its police be "tripled" in order to take complete control of militancy in the state, which has become a gateway for terrorists to carry out attacks in other parts of the country.
The Army deployed in Kashmir valley in the wake of recent violence will go back to barracks in the "next few days", the Centre said late Friday night.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday said that 'the fear of gun would be removed for ever when the basic political issues of the state are addressed and resolved amicably'.
Over 40 km of the three-tier border fencing and flood-lighting have been damaged by the recent floods along the LoC and IB in Jammu and Kashmir and security forces are racing against time to repair it to prevent cross-border infiltration ahead of winters.
The army on Thursday ruled out any surrender policy for foreign militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir, saying they are meant to be eliminated.
"I can tell you that I understand you, my family must have drank water from the river Jhelum. Kashmiriyat, the culture and thought process must be in me too. When I come here, I feel like I am coming home," he said, while referring to his family ties to Kashmir and added that he had come with a message of love and respect.
Trouble erupted during the funeral of Rafiq Bangroo, whose family alleged that CRPF troopers beat up the 25-year-old at Noorbagh during last week's protests in Srinagar. Bangroo battled for his life in the medical institute for a week before succumbing to injuries.
Restoration of road and tele-communication network in the Kashmir Valley, ravaged by floods, will take three to five days. The Centre has directed free flow of transport via Manali and Leh to Srinagar, the only available surface network, a top central government official said on Monday.
Villagers alleged that the youth had been killed by the CRPF trooper without any provocation. CRPF officials said that the trooper had a heated verbal exchange with a group of youths on Wednesday. The CRPF trooper has been taken into custody.
Mannapuram Finance, Mahindra and Bharti Axa are some of the firms known to have bought office spaces worth more than Rs 100 crore
As India and Pakistan gear up for a meeting of their foreign ministers to nudge forward the bilateral peace process, the two sides will have to focus on key issues like terrorism and Kashmir and put in place new confidence-building measures, the Pakistani media has said.
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday confirmed they had arrested a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative from summer capital Srinagar in connection with the terror plot in Delhi.
The announcement brought some relief to the state government, which has been reeling under the consequences of the strike by its 4.5 lakh employees for the past eleven days.
The blaze, an army spokesman here said was caused by an accidental fire inside the field ordinance depot.
A shutdown called by hardline separatist Hurriyat Conference to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to shift prison inmates from the Valley to outside jails affected normal life in Srinagar on Tuesday.
Head Constable Gaviri Ram of 138 battalion was found lying in a pool of blood inside his barrack in the BSF camp Khanetar top area of Poonch district, officials said.
