As many as 14,091 civilians and 5,356 security force personnel lost their lives to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir between the 1990s, when militancy first reared its head in the valley, and 2020.
This was the first general election in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the EC said in a statement.
From a trickle in 1990, when militancy erupted in the valley, the numbers have, however, gradually seen an upward trend.
Even as KPs lined up across special polling stations in Jammu amid tight security, several of them had to return without casting their vote.
Turned away by the Foreign Correspondents Club and the Press Club of India, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri says he has been banned "undemocratically" and will go ahead with a press conference at a five-star hotel on Thursday.
His remarks sparked a controversy with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan targeting the Indian government over its Kashmir policy.
The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday said he will quit filmmaking if intellectuals, including Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, are able to prove that events depicted in his film are false.
A Kashmiri Pandit organisation has placed the number of Pandits killed since 1989 when militancy erupted in Kashmir at 399, contradicting the official figure of 219.
A bastion of Kashmiri pandits, a record 12 displaced pandits of a total 21 candidates are trying their luck from Habba Kadal segment which goes to polls with 20 other constituencies in Jammu, Srinagar and Samba districts in seventh and final phase of elections on December 24.
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.
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.
The Kashmir Files, a Bollywood movie on the exodus of Hindus from the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, will be banned in multi-racial Singapore as the film has been assessed to be 'beyond' the city-state's film classification guidelines, a media report said on Monday.
In one of the tweets, Khan, who is deputy secretary with the MP Public Works Department, had last week urged makers of The Kashmir Files to also make a film on the 'killings of large number of Muslims across several states' in India, and said members of this minority community are 'not insects, but citizens of the country'.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray has again asked Union minister Nitin Gadkari to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party if he is being 'insulted', saying the opposition in Maharashtra would ensure his victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has claimed the movie portrays half truth and only shows violence without conveying any message.
During his address in the Delhi assembly, Kejriwal also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the movie for political gains.
Kashmiri Pandits in the US have appealed to President Barack Obama to take up their cause and the need to protect their fundamental rights in the Valley during his meetings with top Indian leadership.
'Kashmir is heaven on earth. I had to come back.'
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.
"If a film Kashmir Files is made, then at least, there should also be film 'Lakhimpur Files', where farmers were crushed under the wheels of a jeep," the SP president told journalists in Sitapur district on Wednesday when asked for his opinion on the Bollywood movie.
Reuters Photographers Francis Mascarenhas, Almaas Masood, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Sharafat Ali, Anushree Fadnavis capture fascinating glimpses of polling in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Monday, May 13, 2024, covering 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories.
Why has the BJP taken such great interest in the film? Not to put too fine a point on it, a possible reason is its propaganda value. Since the film shows the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during their exodus from the Valley, Muslims are depicted in a poor light, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'There is a sustainable level of residual terrorism that will be difficult to handle as long as Pakistani support and safe havens are available.'
Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits on Friday thronged the revered north Kashmir Khir Bhawani temple on the annual festival. The temple is located at Tullamulla, 26 kilometres from summer capital Srinagar in Ganderbal district.
This is the biggest people-to-people initiative after 15 years and a move towards return of the Pandits to the valley.
The Kashmiri Pandit leadership from across the United States, led by California-based community activist Jeevan Zutshi, last week met senior Obama administration officials at the State Department and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to implore them to help address the plight of the Pandits in India.
Even as its demand for disenfranchisement of Muslims community has evoked sharp reactions from political parties, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday sought to know why the issue of voting rights of Kashmiri Pandits has not been raised in the same manner.
The Government of India has failed Kashmiri Pandits as they are still living as refugees in their own country. The state as well as the central government has not taken substantial measures till date for the return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley, says Varad Sharma
Asserting that religion should not used to get political mileage, Azad said whoever takes refuge in religion in politics is weak.
A migrant worker from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, the latest in a series of targeted killings, officials said on Friday.
A blog linked to TRF, an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, published the list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit employees who were recruited under the Prime Minister's Rehabilitation Package, and warned of mounting attacks on them.
Major opposition political parties and separatists groups in J&K on Wednesday slammed the move of the government to create separate townships for Kashmiri pandit migrants.
'It was an honour to spend the day with the pride of our nation #IndianArmy... I salute them for their selfless service & the hardships they go through for us. #jaihind.'
Unfazed by the widespread criticism of his comments against the Hindi film The Kashmir Files, Israeli director and IFFI international jury chair Nadav Lapid said he stands by his remarks as he "knows how to recognise propaganda disguised as a movie".
The go-ahead given to prosecute Arundhati Roy would be seen by supporters of freedom of speech as an announcement that the Right-Wing doesn't feel humbled by the results of the elections, argues Shyam G Menon.
Veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah's veiled comments against Anupam Kher on Saturday drew sharp reactions from his former co-star.
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