'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.
Clashes between the police and protestors erupted in north Kashmir's Baramulla town after the Friday prayers leaving seven cops and eight protestors wounded.
Three persons were also hurt when militants exploded an Improvised Explosive Device at Tehsil chowk of the district.
People living in areas close to Line of Control in Kashmir are demanding special grant for construction of bunkers to escape shelling as India and Pakistan have resumed hostilities by heavy firing at each others' position.
Remembering the soldiers who laid down their lives defending the nation with indomitable courage and valour, the President said: "The nation salutes the soldiers and officers of the 19th Infantry Division, who have been safeguarding our borders in the most hostile terrains under adverse weather conditions as our frontline troops. They have scripted exceptional stories of indomitable courage, bravery and sacrifice."
A girl was also injured in firing by Pakistani troops.
The National Conference is a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and will continue to be, party leader Omar Abdullah clarified on Thursday and said it is in talks with the Congress for an arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Authorities have decided to impose curfew in north Kashmir's Baramulla town after a 13-year-old boy was killed and eight others wounded in clashes after the prayers on Friday between the state police and protestors, who were agitating against the house arrest of hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Congress and the National Conference on Monday announced they will fight the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each.
A magisterial inquiry was on Saturday ordered by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah into the "accidental" killing of a youth in Baramulla district by the army even as head of Srinagar-based 15 Corps apologised to the family of the deceased.
With two phases of voting already completed, political parties are busy with filing nominations, addressing roadshows and undertaking hectic campaigns for the constituencies that will vote this month.
Ghulam Nabi Azad remarked that the figures are not high enough to know whether the people are happy or angry with the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Mehbooba Mufti said it is a message that the people have not accepted the Centre's decisions.
A policeman was killed on Tuesday morning in a blast in North Kashmir Baramulla town. A senior police officer said an explosive device went off inside the joint interrogation centre (JIC) in Baramulla town Tuesday morning, killing constableRamesh Kumar of the 4th battalion of the India Reserve Police (IRP) on the spot.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will chair a high level meeting in Srinagar on Sunday to review the overall situation in the Kashmir Valley where the over four month long unrest has claimed 111 lives.
Awan, a resident of Mohalla Miana in Mianwali area of Punjab in Pakistan, was indoctrinated by Lakhvi at his residence in Rawalpindi, officials said.
'There is a huge wait in Kashmir for compassion from the prime minister of India.'
In the last three years, the Union Territory administration has invoked 311 (2)(c) of the Constitution to sack more than 50 employees, who were allegedly operating in shadows within the government and drawing a salary from the public exchequer, however, they were helping Pakistani terror outfits, providing logistics to terrorists, propagating terrorists' ideology, raising terror finances and furthering secessionist agenda, officials said.
The army on Tuesday night said it has ordered an internal inquiry into the firing incident in Baramulla district of Kashmir in which a youth was killed, but claimed it was not due to army firing.
Fate of 13 political heavyweights hangs in the balance as 12 more constituencies in north Kashmir's Baramulla district and central Kashmir's Budgam district go to polls on Sunday in the fourth phase of the assembly elections.Among those in the fray are senior octogenarian Congress leader Ghulam Rasool Kar, who after being denied a party ticket, is contesting as an independent candidate from the Sopore constituency in north Kashmir.
Militants on Wednesday had caused four blasts in different parts of Baramulla and Anantnag districts, killing two civilians and wounding 48.
Police said a powerful Improvised Explosive Device concealed in a handcart was triggered off by militants when a paramilitary Border Security Force vehicle neared it on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad road in Baramulla town.
This was the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the city since 1991, when the mercury had fallen to minus 11.4 degree Celsius.
The moderate Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday condemned the killing of two sisters at Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district terming it as an inhuman act. The statement hit back at those who had questioned separatists' silence over the killings.
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 two-day-long bloody gunfight between the security forces and the militants ended in Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon in which two army majors and nine militants were killed.
The measure has been adopted to facilitate unhindered movement of security forces' convoys.
Four persons, including a 60-year old man, were killed and a dozen others received bullet injuries in fresh violence in Kashmir on Friday.
A youth was killed and eight others were wounded in security force firing in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as the authorities imposed curfew in capital Srinagar and other towns. Meanwhile, the death toll in security force firing in the past two days has risen to five.
There were no casualties or injuries in the attack on a Rashtriya Rifles camp in Bandipora.
Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing Sunday morning at the Indian posts in the Uri sector of the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.
Four other associates of Sajjad were killed in a two-day long operation after the army intercepted them while they were trying to sneak in.
It is not known whether the BSF personnel was killed by the terrorists or had fallen victim to 'friendly fire'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government has made a "solemn promise" for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions.
Security forces have been deployed in strength in sensitive and vulnerable areas to maintain law and order.
Top Al Badr terrorist Abu Hamza killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.
Three persons including two militants and a civilian were killed in a north Kashmir gunbattle early on Saturday.
A dozen paramilitary, central reserve police force (CRPF) troopers and policemen were injured in a North Kashmir grenade blast inside a police station on Friday morning.
A junior commissioned officer was killed when Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control in Uri sector of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Monday morning.
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