The Indian Air Force on Friday resumed its rescue operations to airlift as many as 190 people trapped in snow-hit Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
"130 Helicopter Unit -- "The Condors", of the IAF stationed at Jammu yet again undertook a demanding operation of rescuing stranded people from the inaccessible villages of Kishtwar district," a defence statement said on Saturday evening.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday charged the Jammu and Kashmir government with playing politics on the Kishtwar riots and cautioned that this was another Pakistan design in which separatist forces were involved.
Sheetal Devi finished second in the women's individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry
Curfew continued on Tuesday in Kishtwar for the sixth day running, even as restrictions were partially lifted in Samba district and other areas of Jammu region, which were witness to recent incidents of communal clashes.
Four persons, including two policemen, were injured in fresh clashes which broke out in Kishtwar on Monday as locals defied the curfew to protest against the arrest of a youth for his alleged involvement in Friday's communal violence in the area.
Several deaths were reported across the country due to rain-related incidents like lightning strikes and drowning.
Security forces on Sunday claimed to have busted hideout of two Hizbul Mujahideen commanders, wanted for their roles in 2011 Delhi high court blast, and seized huge cache of arms and ammunition in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Curfew remained in force on Saturday in violence-hit Kishtwar district, even as protests against Friday's communal clashes there rocked Jammu and adjoining districts, where normal life was disrupted due to a bandh.
Two top terrorists of Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) were on Sunday gunned down by security forces in a fierce gun-battle in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Security forces on Sunday intensified their operation to flush out terrorists from the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on the second day of encounter that has left two soldiers and a civilian dead.
The Union cabinet on Wednesday accepted the recommendations of the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on simultaneous elections.
Acting on a tip off, troops of the 11 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation in Sondar forest belt in Taksham area of the district, nearly 300 km from Jammu, a senior army official said.
Curfew was on Wednesday lifted in Kishtwar, 13 days after restrictions were imposed there following communal strife, as the situation was returning to normal.
An Army captain lost his life while four terrorists are believed to have been killed in an ongoing operation in the higher reaches of Jammu region's Doda district on Wednesday, officials said.
Members in Rajya Sabha on Monday voiced concern over violence in Kishtwar area of Jammu and Kashmir with Opposition saying the country's "sovereignty and integrity" was at stake and the matter should not be dismissed as an inter-community clash.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir to file a detailed affidavit on the communal clashes in Kishtwar district and subsequent steps taken by the state government to control the situation.
A voter turnout of 69.69 percent was recorded in the third and final phase of voting Tuesday in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission said.
The encounter broke out after the terrorists opened fire at the search party personnel, who retaliated, the officials said.
Kishtwar is the face of secularism that Srinagar wears. The secularism which the Indian government follows is self defeating, feels BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
After two days of violence in the area, normalcy returned on Thursday with shops and market places opening.
The BJP's Central Election Committee had met on Sunday evening to finalise the party's candidates for the polls.
The hideout was dismantled by police in collaboration with the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in a meticulously planned operation in Paribag area of Bhadat Saroor, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kishtwar, Khalil Poswal said.
A soldier's family in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar was preparing for his marriage in December but fate had something else in store as the braveheart laid down his life fighting terrorists in Rajouri district.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is poised to form the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, having secured a victory in the assembly elections by securing 49 out of 90 seats on which polls were held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 five years ago.
Five troopers of the Rashtriya Rifles and a special police officer were injured Tuesday night when the terrorists attacked a joint check post in the upper reaches of Chattergalla on the Bhaderwah-Pathankot road in the hilly district.
The accident took place at the Tungi-Morh in the Chowki Chora belt of the district, the officials said, adding that the bus rolled around 150 feet down into the gorge.
Security forces and terrorists exchanged fire twice briefly within a span of four hours in a forest area in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, officials said on Wednesday.
More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
At least 36 people were killed and 19 injured when a bus carrying passengers skidded off the road and rolled down into a 300-foot gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district on Wednesday, officials said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam turned down the plea of the state government against compensating the injured persons till the judicial commission looking into the incident files its report
The Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday booked Varinder Singh, suspected to be the bodyguard of the fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, under the Arms Act in connection with a gun licence issued to him in Kishtwar district, officials said.
The government on Monday ruled out any terror or "external aggression" link to the communal violence in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that there will be no repeat of 1990 when Pandits were forced to leave KashmirValley.
The Udhampur-based northern command is committed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army said on Tuesday, as it paid tribute to four soldiers who died in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists in Doda district.
Two persons from Kishtwar were arrested on Wednesday and charged with criminal conspiracy in connection with the terror mail traced to Jammu and Kashmir owning responsibility for the Delhi high court blast.
Officials said there were no reports so far of any loss of life or damage to property.
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
The gunfight, lasting more than an hour, took place at Jaddan Bata village in the Kastigarh area around 2 am when the terrorists opened fire on a temporary camp established in a government school for the ongoing search operation, they said.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
