The 300-km Pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, has been completely reopened to traffic and over 900 vehicles, including trucks and tankers, have ferried essential supplies in and out of the valley."The highway is totally restored for vehicular traffic between Kashmir and the rest of the country. There is no economic blockade and traffic is plying as normal today," defence spokesman said.
For the first time in a decade, mobile phone and mobile Internet services were not disrupted in Kashmir Valley as part of the security drill for Republic Day celebrations.
Officials said that 100 more companies are expected to be sent to the valley.
Light snowfall was recorded in the famous tourist resort of Pahalgam in south Kashmir and areas in the higher reaches, including places near Amarnath cave shrine overnight while other parts of the Valley witnessed a drop in minimum temperature.
One terrorist was also killed in the gunfight.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday chaired a high-level national security meeting to discuss the situation arising out of intelligence alerts over possible terror threats via sea to Maharashtra and Goa. Attended by the country's top security officials, the two-and-a-half hour meeting is also believed to have discussed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, in the wake of the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start next week, sources said.
"As temperatures go up and the snow starts melting, our neighbouring country Pakistan tries to push more and more terrorists into our land. But our army is alert (to scuttle the attempts)," General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 corps Lt Gen Om Prakash told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Rangreth.
Inclement weather could delay the annual Amar Nath Yatra, hinted Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Khiram in Srigufwara area of the south Kashmir district this morning after receiving specific intelligence input about the presence of militants in the area, a police official said.
The announcement comes days after senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead in Srinagar.
The presence of security forces in the Sonwar area, housing residences of almost all mainstream politicians and top civil and police officers is marked by heavy deployment to foil any untoward incident.
Against the backdrop of escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land row, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday appealed for calm and said differences could be addressed through 'dialogue and reconciliation'.In her second address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day, Patil made no direct mention of the simmering crisis but said "whatever the problem, whatever the cause, whatever the reason, there is no place for violence in our society."
With the Centre acceding to the request of the Jammu and Kashmir government to assign law and order duties to the police, the process of pullout of the Central Reserve Police Force, a para-military force, from the state has begun in a phased manner
'Kashmiris are very adaptable people. They will wait. From India's point of view, I think we have lost a great opportunity. I don't think we should keep talking to Pakistan. We should talk to the Kashmiris. Ultimately, this matter has to be settled between New Delhi and Srinagar,' says A S Dulat, expert on Kashmir.
Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha, till recently Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, on Thursday launched a frontal attack on the state's main political parties, especially PDP and its patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, accusing him of being "hand in glove" with separatists and fundamentalists. At the centre of controversy over the land for Amarnath yatra which paralysed the valley in recent days, Sinha denounced PDP as "anti-national".
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal on Wednesday warned that they will not allow pilgrims to reach the Ajmer Dargah, where the annual Urs has begun, unless the Jammu and Kashmir government withdraws its latest order revoking the transfer of forest land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board.Bajrang Dal Rajasthan unit's convenor Mahendra Singh Meena said that Hindu activists of the saffron outfits would block buses carrying pilgrims in Rajasthan during the two-day bandh.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday briefed President Pratibha Patil on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Amarnath land row. During the 45-minute meeting, Dr Singh apprised her of the steps taken by the Centre to restore normalcy in the state, official sources said.
The All Party Sangharsh Samiti has rejected the government's decision not to recall Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, according to Dr Ajay Churangu, one of the Punan Kashmir leaders.Churangu could not attend the all-party meeting in Delhi because of the traffic blockade on the highway.The members of the coordination committee of the All Party Sangharsh Samiti met late on Wednesday evening and discussed the press statement issued by the Centre.
Rajnath Singh, president of Bhartiya Janata Party, has called for a nationwide bandh on July 3, to protest against the recall of the cabinet order by Jammu and Kashmir government of the land that was allotted to the Amarnath Shrine board.
The busy administrative schedule is being cited as the reason for holding of polls in October.
VHP International General Secretary Dr Pravin Togadia told a press conference at the VHP's Delhi office, "The agitation is limited to four hours. We are resorting to this to press for our demand that Jammu and Kashmir government rescind its order not to hand over land to the SASB."
A senior police officer said the terrorists, allegedly dressed in army fatigues, ambushed a Srinagar-bound convoy of the BSF.
In February this year, the same minister was accused by a lady doctor of mental harassment after he rebuked her for not wearing the apron.
The bypoll, earlier slated to be held on April 12, was postponed for May 25 due to poor law and order situation.
As many as 47 people, including 20 security personnel, have been killed and over 130 injured in the R S Pura sector in Pakistan shelling and firing this year.
The replies from the governor seek to put to rest a week's uncertainty that had been dogging the valley especially after Centre had rushed 100 companies (10,000 security personnel) to the state.
In his monthly 'Mann ki baat' broadcast, he said the "Back to village" programme held in June in Jammu and Kashmir saw enthusiastic participation of villagers everywhere.
'After shots were fired from the front, I ducked and shifted my position instinctively.' 'I had heard from other drivers that when stones are pelted at a bus the first target is the driver.'
'The spirit of religious faith in Kashmir is inclusive.' 'There an inclusiveness of Islam in Kashmir.' 'An ordinary Kashmiri can be a political fundamentalist, but he can never be a religious fundamentalist.'
Ahead of the Parliament session, beginning Monday, the government is apparently aiming to build a consensus to deal with its biggest neighbour as well on Kashmir issue.
India captain Virat Kohli's phenomenal batting form fetched him the BCCI's best cricketer award for two seasons, while World Cup stars Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana were chosen for the women's equivalent of the honour.
Local people in Bijbehara defied curfew orders and rushed out to help a group of Amarnath pilgrims whose bus collided with a truck.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to flare up the situation in Kishtwar to polarise the population with an eye on next year's elections to parliament and the assembly.
Three to four hundred youths have converged at Sonamarg base camp to clean the hills of poly-bags and other items left by the pilgrims during the one-and-a-half month yatra.
Protests against the killing of four people in firing by Border Security Force personnel erupted across Jammu and Kashmir on Friday during which 40 people including 19 security personnel were injured in clashes, stone-pelting and cane-charge.
She also voiced hope that the Centre will initiate an inclusive engagement through an institutionalised mechanism to address the Kashmir issue and the separatists will respond positively to it.
Cold wave conditions continued unabated in Kashmir Valley owing to the dry weather even as the weatherman predicted some respite next week with the possibility of isolated rains or snowfall.
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