Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday and discussed the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir besides other issues.
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.
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah on Saturday met Home Minister P Chidambaram and discussed the prevailing situation in Kashmir. Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, and patron of the ruling National Conference in the state, discussed with Chidambaram the steps being taken by the Centre and the state government to bring back normalcy in the state. Barring Sopore and Pulwama, curfew was lifted temporarily in the Kashmir valley.
Vijay Kumar, the bank manager, was shot inside the premises on Thursday morning and died on the way to hospital.
A moderate intensity earthquake rocked Kashmir valley on Saturday afternoon, triggering panic among the residents.
Inflencer and vlogger Shenaz Treasury chooses her favourite quiet spots.
The minimum temperature in Kashmir Valley dropped again after a day's respite, while the mercury appreciated in Ladakh region by over a degree, even as dry weather continues to prevail over the state.
On August 5, the Narendra Modi-led government abrogated Article 370, which gave the state of Kashmir special powers, and decided to transform the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Since then phone networks have been cut off and curfew-like restrictions have been imposed, leaving residents in a state of despair. On September 29, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked the Opposition for spreading "misinformation" about Kashmir. There were no "restrictions", he said -- they were "only in your mind". Sixty one days later, this is what normalcy looks like in the former state, particularly the Kashmir Valley.
While there was unrest in the rest of the Kashmir valley, the Dal Lake was serene and peaceful.
Separatists and their wide network must be neutralized for peace in the Valley
Banks, ATMs and quite a few markets were kept open on Sunday while 2.5 lakh sacrificial goats have been made available in the Kashmir valley to help citizens celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with traditional fervour.
Firmly backing the state government in dealing with the violence in the Kashmir valley, the Centre today said that anti-national forces that were fomenting trouble were clearly linked to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
Curfew-like situation prevailed in Kashmir Valley today, as authorities imposed stringent restrictions on the movement of people to prevent separatists from staging protest rallies during the day.
An Amnesty International team, on a week-long visit to Kashmir valley to assess the situation on the human rights front, on Tuesday met a number of separatist leaders.
While shops and business establishments remained closed for the ninth day as traders are on an indefinite strike against the implementation of value added tax, all modes of transport went off the roads on Thursday, the sources said.
Police on Wednesday gunned down two militants, one of whom was the longest surviving militant in Kashmir valley.
Militant outfit Lasker-e-Tayiba plans to trigger blasts using trained women terrorists who will intermingle with protesters to carry out attacks as part of a strategy to intensify violence in Kashmir Valley, according to intelligence intercepts.
The ban will be in place for a month or till further orders, whichever is earlier, said an order issued by Principal Secretary Home R K Goyal.
People, who have been virtually been kept indoors because of heavy security deployment in the wake of removal of special status for Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state, were allowed to go to mosques in their localities without being asked any questions by security personnel.
Barring a clash between protesters and security forces which left one person injured in Sopore, situation in strike-hit Kashmir Valley remained calm though restrictions were imposed in parts of interior city where Hurriyat Conference had planned to hold a meeting.
Ahead of the all-party delegation's visit to Kashmir Valley next week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held deliberations with senior party leaders on the strategy for the troubled state.
Intercepts of communication between terrorist groups have suggested this.
A set of new standard operating procedures have been issued by the force headquarters in Delhi for vehicle-mounted movement of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, and it has also been ordered that the 'passenger manifest discipline' for each vehicle in the convoy be strictly adhered to.
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
The intensifying cold wave sweeping the Kashmir valley froze parts of the d famous Dal Lake located in the heart of Srinagar. This has made rowing difficult for fishermen and boatmen.
'Although the tactical move to outflank the BJP fell through with New Delhi's decisive intervention and eventual dissolution of the state assembly, the PDP, NC and the Congress appeared to be more than satisfied.' 'They see the assembly dissolution as their 'great achievement'.' 'If one were to believe what they say, this was also their main objective,' reveals Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the doyen of Kashmiri commentators.
Most of the public transport on inter-district and intra-city routes remained suspended but some private vehicles were seen plying on the roads, the sources said, adding no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the valley so far.
Curfew was on Wednesday clamped in four districts of Kashmir Valley to foil a march by the separatists to the United Nations office in Srinagar demanding withdrawal of troops from Jammu and Kashmir.
The Kashmir Valley received fresh snow Sunday that blocked the Jammu-Srinagar national highway yet again. The blockade of the highway stranded hundreds of vehicles at various points on the highway.
The new Vande Bharat Express train is specially designed to operate seamlessly in Jammu & Kashmir's challenging winter conditions for the upcoming Katra-Srinagar rail route.
Fourteen youths from Kashmir Valley have reportedly joined militant groups this year, the government told Parliament on Wednesday.
Kashmir Valley remained under curfew for the third day on Monday even as mobile Internet services remained suspended and newspapers failed to hit the stands following hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru.
The women, after their 45-day induction training and combat-stress inoculation, will be deployed in the valley to tackle stone-pelters and protestors, including women.
The Centre and state governments have shied away from highlighting the ISI's attempts to displace Hindus and create corridors of sympathetic demography to further their designs especially along the communication arteries from Jammu to the Kashmir Valley.
The resolution asserted that the House "is of the firm and considered view that there cannot be any compromise on unity, integrity and national security.
The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on a plea by jailed MP Rashid Engineer, facing trial in a terror funding case, seeking custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session. Engineer, a Baramulla MP, was opposed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) who argued that he has no vested right to attend Parliament and there were security concerns. The court said though there might not be a vested right to attend the session, it could exercise its discretion. The NIA also argued that Rashid misused the telephone facility in Tihar jail and that allowing him to attend the session would be a security risk.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Rejecting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's statement that Kashmiri militants are terrorists, separatist leaders in the Kashmir Valley said he was 'ignorant about the sub-continent's history'.
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