"If a person is shot inside his office, nobody is safe in the valley. When such a thing has happened it is a glaring example of the government's failure. Those serving (among the Kashmiri Pandits) there are doing it at their own risk as the government has failed to provide security to them," Bhat's father said.
National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah Tuesday asserted that there should be no "fiddling" with the mandate of people in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Centre and the Raj Bhavan must not indulge in any "machinations".
Umar Ganie captures tourists frolicking in the snow in Doodhpathri, Budgam district.
The previous highest voter turnout in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency was witnessed in 1984 at 58.90 percent.
The meeting came after terrorists carried out a series of targeted killings in the Kashmir Valley that include non-Muslims, security personnel, an artist and local civilians.
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
So far 14 Kashmiri Pandits have filed nominations to contest from the valley for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, aiming to ensure the return and rehabilitation of their fellow community members, whose number run up to 3 lakh.
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
'Heinous murder case of TV artist Amreen Bhat solved in 24 hours...10 terrorists including three from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and seven from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfits killed in three days in Kashmir Valley,' said IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar.
Jammu and Kashmir government ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of a youth in firing by security forces during a protest demonstration in Budgam district on Saturday.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina, seeking re-election from Nowshera assembly constituency of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, is facing a major challenge from his former party colleague Surinder Choudhary.
The community members, including Rahul Bhat's family, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre of making young Kashmiri Hindus 'cannon fodder' in the name of rehabilitation of the community.
The raids in the twin capitals of Srinagar and Jammu along with Budgam in central and Kulgam and Anantnag in south Kashmir led to the seizure of incriminating documents and digital devices connected with the activities of JeI and its related Trusts and more than Rs 20 lakh, a spokesperson of the federal agency said.
'They should have shot me in the heart... Where will I find my sons now?' their mother wailed as her sons's bodies were brought home.
Three persons, including two army jawans, were injured after one army unit fired at another unit mistaking them for militants in central Kashmir's Budgam district, official sources said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said Pakistan is 'committing atrocities' against people in its occupied Kashmir and will have to bear its consequences.
'There was a statement by a minister that 30,000 Kashmiri Pandits have come back to the Kashmir Valley after the abrogation of Article 370, it is all b.......t and a white lie.' 'Nobody has come back.'
They also demanded immediate release of their pending salaries in view of the 'Maha Shivratri' festival, being observed later this week.
The aircraft had taken off from the Srinagar airfield and was on a "routine" training sortie.
Scores of protesting Kashmiri Pandit prime minister's package employees on Monday reiterated their demand for relocation outside the valley, saying their worst fears have come true with the latest killing of a community member in Pulwama.
'I went to jail and met my father to convince him to join politics and believe in the Constitution.'
Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits employed in the Valley under the Prime Minister's package moved to Jammu last May following the killing of two colleagues -- Rahul Bhat and Rajini Bala -- by terrorists.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a high-level meeting on June 3 to discuss the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the second such exercise in less than a fortnight which comes at a time when terrorists have been carrying out targeted killings in the Valley.
Shouting slogans against district administration, the protestors raised slogans like "we want justice".
The Pandits said they have heaved a sigh of relief on reaching their township at Jagti in the outskirts of Jammu after spending sleepless nights in their rented accommodations in the Kashmir over the past few weeks.
Ahead of a crucial meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and is believed to have discussed the security situation in the Union territory which has witnessed a spate of targeted killings since May 12.
Kashmir zone inspector general of police Vijay Kumar also urged the protesters to be patient and 'not get carried away by political parties.'
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 young man was killed and two others injured in firing by the Central Reserve Police Force on Saturday during protests in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir where a strike has been called by the hardline Hurriyat faction against the killing of two youths in Tral earlier this week.
Authorities imposed restriction in parts of Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Srinagar and disallowed the main Muharram procession from city centre Lal Chowk on Tuesday.
Abdul Hamid Najar, a resident of Mohiendpora area of Budgam in central Kashmir, was shot at and critically injured by terrorists in his native village on Sunday, the official said.
Security forces have been deployed in strength in sensitive and vulnerable areas to maintain law and order.
Moderate to brisk polling marked the fourth phase of state assembly elections in the north Kashmir Baramulla and central Kashmir's Budgam district on Sunday.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has neither accepted nor rejected the demand but the protest had to be suspended as stopping of salaries is 'choking us financially', protesters affiliated to the All Migrant (Displaced) Employees Association Kashmir (AMEAK) said.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged that government employees were 'forcibly mobilised' and ferried to Modi's rally to paint a 'pretty picture that all is well' post 2019, when the Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories.
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.
Jammu and Kashmir has spent Rs 12 crore on the maintenance and operation of Omar Abdullah's aircraft since he became the chief minister in January 2009.
The Congress will make it the main issue when its Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi reaches Jammu and Kashmir early next year.
Students from the nomadic Bakerwal community attend a seasonal school in the mountains of Tosa Maidan in Kashmir.
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