One person was killed and five others were injured when security forces allegedly opened fire to quell stone-pelting mobs in Budgam district of central Kashmir on Friday.The fresh protests came even as the curfew remained in force in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir valley for the fifth successive day on Friday. Five persons were injured when security forces allegedly opened fire to disperse hundreds of people who defied curfew and indulged in stone-pelting.
'Had Haji Pir and/or Skardu been taken, the message would have gone out not just to General Asim Munir and his cohort in the Pakistan army but to the Pakistani people that every terrorist incident in India would lead to substantial loss of territory in PoK.'
The judicial commission appointed by the Jammu and Kashmir government to probe 17 civilian deaths in the Kashmir Valley, between June 11 to July 19 this year, started its process of inquiry on Thursday. Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry Tariq Ahmad Banday issued a public notice, seeking information from persons, groups or organisations having any knowledge about incidents which led to the killing of 17 civilians, beginning with death of 17-year-old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo.
Fed up with repeated strikes by separatists in Kashmir Valley, shopkeepers are up in arms against protestors, who are tasting their own bitter pill as locals are attacking them with stones. Clerics have also started making fervent appeals from mosques to open shops and restore normalcy in violence affected areas. An incident of clash was recently reported from Peerbagh in Budgham district of Central Kashmir - the scene of violent protests during the last few weeks.
The Jammu and Kashmir Education Department is planning to compensate for the loss by extra and special classes. Some schools are also opting for e-lectures that are distributed to the students through Internet.
The voter turnout in the first three phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low.
The education sector has been badly hit in Kashmir Valley during the five-month-long unrest, causing "irreversible loss" to students, the Economic Survey Report has said.
Pakistan said demilitarisation in Kashmir would improve the atmosphere and conditions for the Kashmiris, who he alleged are subjected to continuous intimidation by Indian security forces.
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.
Life in Kashmir Valley on Saturday returned to normal as authorities lifted the curfew and the hard-line Hurriyat Conference exempted the day from its schedule of protests and strikes. Curfew was lifted from the entire Valley, except Kangan town in Ganderbal district, on Friday night as the law and order situation across the region remained peaceful, official sources said. The sources said restrictions were not eased in Kangan town.
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.
After two men -- who were working Kashmir -- were murdered by terrorists in Shopian district, south Kashmir, the security machinery in the Valley commenced the difficult business of tracking down the killers.
Official also said the recent escalation in targeted terrorist violence would not lead to any change in plans for holding the annual Amarnath Yatra which is scheduled from June 30-August 11.
A cold wave has gripped many parts of north and east India, with Srinagar recording a minimum temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius. Other areas experiencing below-freezing temperatures include Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Konibal, Qazigund, Kupwara, and Kokernag in Kashmir. Himachal Pradesh has issued an orange warning for severe cold wave conditions in several districts. Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius, while Faridkot in Punjab was the coldest in the region at 0 degrees Celsius. Extreme cold conditions also continued in parts of Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The Met office has forecast mainly dry weather until December 26, with the possibility of light snowfall in the higher reaches of Kashmir on the intervening night of December 21-22.
Curfew in many parts and separatist-sponsored strike disrupted normal life for the 30th straight day on Sunday in Kashmir Valley where violence has so far left 54 persons dead and more than 6000 others injured.
Terrorism decreased, corruption and dynastic politics ended and an era of peace, development, prosperity started on August 5, 2019, said Shah as he reached out to the youths in the Valley urging them to stand up to disruptive elements and become ambassadors of peace.
Rahul said it is clear that things are "not normal" in Jammu and Kashmir.
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'It is a matter of regret that the BJP and PDP refused to take the Pandits aboard in this government.' 'The present government is following a policy of soft secessionism.'
The expert panel, set up by the home ministry to find an alternative to pellet guns, is believed to have zeroed in on 'PAVA shells', a chilli-based ammunition, which is less lethal and immobilises the target.
The highway was closed on Saturday due to heavy snowfall and landslides.
'There is a sustainable level of residual terrorism that will be difficult to handle as long as Pakistani support and safe havens are available.'
Udit Narayan, who recently shot for a music album in Kashmir, says the Valley continues to mesmerise.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram arrived in Srinagar on Monday afternoon on a two-day visit to Kashmir Valley to review the overall security situation in the state and arrangements made for the annual Amarnath yatra.
The 40-day period marks the harshest phase of the winter in the Kashmir valley.
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After remaining shut for 100 days, schools in Kashmir Valley reopened on Monday, with students and teachers given a free passage by security forces despite curfew and restrictions in many parts. However, attendance was thin against the backdrop of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's call to parents not to send their wards to schools and colleges. The education system in the valley had become a collateral damage in the ongoing unrest.
Locals inspect the house where two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were hiding and killed during an encounter in Soura Srinagar on Friday, May 27, 2022.
Tourists and locals enjoy the snow sculpture of the Taj Mahal created by a hotel in Gulmarg to promote tourism in the Kashmir Valley.
Security forces sieved through the dense forests of Gadole in Kashmir Valley's Anantnag district for the seventh day on Tuesday, one of Jammu and Kashmir's longest anti-militancy operations that has claimed the lives of three officers and a soldier.
Indefinite curfew was clamped in all major towns of the Kashmir Valley on Saturday in the wake of protests, even as the death toll in the violent clashes between locals and security forces rose to four.
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The attack, which took place near a heavily guarded complex housing All India Radio and Doordarshan Kendra near the Tourist Reception Centre, comes a day after security forces eliminated a top Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Tayiba in the Khanyar locality of downtown Srinagar.
Fresh clashes broke out in curfew-bound Kashmir Valley on Saturday in which 30 persons, including 15 security personnel were injured, as protests against the Ramban killings on Thursday continued in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir Valley continued to remain in the grip of a severe cold wave even as the authorities claimed to have restored power supply in the entire valley on Monday evening, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
Curfew remained in force in six police station areas of the city, Anantnag town, Kokernag and Khanpora in Baramulla district as restrictions on assembly of four or more people continued in entire Kashmir.
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Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Monday recommended setting up of an 'impartial truth and reconciliation commission' to probe and report on human rights violations by both state and non-state actors in Jammu and Kashmir since the 1980s, saying the 'wounds need healing'.
Mercury plummeted in Kashmir Valley on Thursdayafter a slight respite for few days, dropping further below the freezing point with Kargil recording a new low of minus 15.8 degrees Celsius this season.
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